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THE 

LIFE  OF  ST.  DOMINIC, 

AND 

$  Slietclr  fff  flit  gaminta  ®xtex. 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION, 

BY 

MOST    REV.   J.    S.   ALEMANY,  D.  D. 


Pie  Pater  Dominice, 
Tuorem  memor  operum, 
Sta  coram  summo  Judice, 
Pro  tuo  coetu  pauperum. 


PEEMI3?II    GU-PEETOEUM. 


NEW  YORK: 
F.    O'SHEA,    PUBLISHER, 

27    BARCLAY    STREET. 

18G7. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1867,  by 

P.   O'SHEA, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  AMERICAN  EDITION. 


St.  Dominic's  name  is  revered  by  many  who  never  pe- 
rused his  life,  and  it  is  likewise  execrated  by  others  who 
gain  their  notions  of  him  from  false  biographies,  (if  they 
may  be  so  called.) 

The  fragrance  of  his  sanctity  fills  the  entire  garden  of 
the  Church,  and  all  within  its  holy  precincts  acknowledge 
his  virtues,  even  without  pausing  to  learn  the  peculiar 
causes  of  his  distinction,  while  those  without  hear  nothing 
but  the  foul  reports  of  such  as  never  saw  him,  never 
held  any  kind  of  communication  with  his  associates,  but 
who  derived  all  their  knowledge  of  St.  Dominic  from 
those  who  wrongly  judged  him. 

England  was  not  the  last  in  joining  in  this  hasty  ver- 
dict, elicited  from  incompetent  testimony  ;  nor  is  she  the 
last  in  re-opening  the  case,  setting  aside  all  unqualified 
evidence, — nay,  in  arraigning  before  the  majesty  of  reason 
and  of  truth  the  faithful  contemporary  eye-witnesses  of 
the  Saint,  and  in  giving  to  the  world,  as  the  result  of  most 
careful  and  impartial  scrutiny,  the  true  life  of  St.  Dominic, 
of  which  this  is  a  mere  republication. 

This  English  portrait  of  St.  Dominic  is  a  gem,  the  pre- 
cious offering  to  the  sanctuary  of  Catholic  truth,  by  a 
distinguished  pen,  admired  for  its  rare  powers  while  used 
out  of  the  Church,  now  consecrated  in  its  undiminished 

229458 


IV  INTRODUCTION. 

force  and  elegance  by  Divine  faith.  The  EnglV  <  author 
in  pencilling  so  exquisitely  the  portrait  of  the  Saiut,  mo- 
destly forgot  to  state  who  depicted  it  ;  but  the  merit  of 
the  life  before  us  will  be  deeply  appreciated  by  all  its 
readers.  The  American  non-Catholics  earnestly  searching 
after  truth  will  see  in  St.  Dominic  the  unflinching  lover 
of  truth, — the  gentle  yet  powerful  advocate  of  truth,  and 
the  undying  martyr  of  charity  to  his  fellow  man. 

And  if  American  Protestants  should  read  St.  Dominic's 
life,  Catholics  should  especially  be  familiar  with  it.  It  is 
well  said  that  the  reading  of  the  lives  of  the  saints  makes 
saints.  Our  Saviour  pronounced  dreadfnl  woes  against 
those  by  whom  scandal  comes  ;  and  if  scandal  be  a  great 
evil,  because  it  occasions  the  ruin  of  souls  redeemed  by 
Christ's  most  precious  blood,  no  Christian  can  doubt  the 
incalculable  blessings  that  naturally  flow  from  reading 
the  heroic  examples  set  forth  in  the  lives  of  the  saints. 
But  St.  Dominic's  should  be  peculiarly  dear  to  all  our 
Catholics,  on  account  of  his  important  relations  with  the 
Catholic  world  :  for  he  gave  to  the  world  the  most  useful 
devotion  of  the  Rosary,  of  which  the  Sovereign  Pontiffs 
have  proclaimed  him  the  founder.  He  obtained  from 
heaven  the  extraordinary  power  of  living  after  death  in 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  devoted  preachers  of 
the  Catholic  truth,  through  whom  he  has  carried  the  gos- 
pel of  Christ  to  the  uttermost  bounds  of  the  earth. — He 
has  adorned  the  Catholic  libraries  with  the  unsurpassed 
wisdom  of  St.  Thomas,  and  a  host  of  others  ;  he  has 
given  to  St.  Peter's  chair  distinguished  and  saintly  occu- 
pants ;  he  has  studded  the  altars  of  the  Church  with 
most  precious  gems  of  virtue  and  sanctity,  and  has 
given  to  America  her  first  Saint — the  fragrant  Rose  of 
Lima. 


ADVEBTISEMENT. 


A  few  words  of  explanation  may  seem  required  as  an 
apology  for  presenting  the  public  with  a  new  Biography  of 
S.  I>ominic.  The  beautiful  life  of  the  saint  by  Pere 
Lacordaire  seemed  to  have  furnished  everything  that  could 
be  desired,  in  clothing  the  legendary  story  of  his  great 
patriarch  in  modern  dress.  But  although  there  can  cer- 
tainly be  no  temptation  to  pretend  to  anything  like  a 
rivalry  with  that  eloquent  writer,  there  are  some  reasons 
which  appear  to  make  a  fresh  biography  desirable  for  those 
among  ourselves  who  wish  to  form  a  more  familiar  acquaint- 
ance with  S.  Dominic  than  is  furnished  in  the  brief  notices 
given  in  English  collections  of  the  lives  of  the  saints.  It  is 
true  PereLacordaire's  life  has  for  some  time  been  translated 
into  our  own  language ;  but  the  very  beauty  of  its  style  is 
so  essentially  French,  that  no  translation  can  preserve  its 
peculiar  charm,  or  render  it  as  popular  as  it  deserves  to  be. 
But  it  is  French  in  something  more  than  idiom;  it  was 
written  with  the  avowed  object  of  advancing  the  order  in 
France,  and  a  prominence  is  therefore  given  to  the  Gallican 
associations  of  the  Order  of  Preachers,  which,  by  readers 
of  another  nation,  is  felt  to  be  undue. 

In  the  following  pages,  the  course  of  .the  saint's  life  has 
been  followed  with  no  view  save  that  of  giving  his  character 
in  its  true  historical  light;  and  for  this  end,  the  simple 
narrative  of  facts,  without  comment  or  explanation,  has  been 
felt  to  be  sufficient.  We  are  much  mistaken  if  the  best 
defence  that  can  be  offered  of  S.  Dominic's  character,  so 
long  the  subject  of  the  strangest  misrepresentation,  be  not 
to  be  found  in  the  unvarnished  story  of  his  life,  drawn  from 
the  testimony  of  those  who  saw  him  face  to  face,  and  whose 
writings  form  the  principal  material  from  which  the  follow- 
ing pages  have  been  compiled.      « 


Tl  ADVERTISEMENT. 

There  are  some  subjects  which  our  readers  may  be  dis- 
appointed in  finding  so  briefly  touched  upon  in  a  life  of  S. 
Dominic.  But  we  have  felt  that  several  of  the  disputed 
points,  commonly  discussed  by  his  biographers,  have  little 
real  interest  to  the  student  of  his  character.  We  have  not, 
therefore,  entered  at  length  into  the  history  of  the 
Albigensian  war,  or  of  the  foundation  of  the  Inquisition, 
preferring  to  leave  the  doubts  arising  out  of  these  subjects 
to  be  resolved  by  others,  whose  object  is  the  critical 
examination  of  historical  questions.  Our  only  task  has 
been  to  lay  before  our  readers  the  personal  portrait  of  one 
whose  influence  in  the  Church  of  Christ  must  endure  so 
long  as  the  religious  and  apostolic  life  shall  be  found 
within  her  bosom. 

The  authorities  from  which  we  have  drawn  our  sketch 
have  been  chiefly  Mamachi's  Annals,  with  the  ancient 
chronicles  and  memoirs  reprinted  in  that  work,  including  the 
Acts  of  Bologna,  the  memoir  of  Sister  Cecilia,  and  that  of 
blessed  Humbert;  Polidori's  life,  which  follows  the  facts, 
and  in  many  places  the  text,  of  blessed  Jordan ;  Ferdinand 
Castiglio's  history  of  the  order,  and  the  life  of  S.  Dominic 
by  Touron;  whilst  in  the  account  of  the  early  fathers  of  the 
order,  great  use  has  been  made  of  F.  Michel  Pio's  work 
entitled  "Progenie  dell'  Ordine  in  Italia"  (which  collects 
all  the  particulars  given  by  Gerard  de  Frachet  and  the  old 
writers),  and  of  the  biographical  sketches  of  F.  Marchese  in 
his  "•Diario  Domenicano." 

The  summary  of  the  history  of  the  Friars  Preachers 
subsequent  to  the  death  of  S.  Dominic,  has  been  chiefly 
taken  from  Touron's  great  work  on  "the  Illustrious  Men  of 
the  Order."  In  selecting  a  few  out  of  the  many  names  that 
called  for  notice,  we  have  necessarily  omitted  a  number  that 
will  readily  suggest  themselves  to  our  readers  ;  but  our 
object  has  been  to  avoid  -  wearying  them  with  a  mere 
enumeration  of  authors  and  learned  works,  and,  without 
attempting  such  ^i  complete  sketch  as  our  limited  space 
rendered  impossible,  to  suggest  something  of  the  general 
features  of  the  order,  as  illustrated  by  the  lives  of  its 
greatest  men. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I.  ^y^ 

The  birth  of  Dominic.    His  youth  and  university  life,  1. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Dominic  is  appointed  canon  of  Osma.    His  mission  to  the  north  in 
company  with  Diego  of  Azevedo,  6. 

CHAPTER  III. 

Pilgrimage  to  Rome.    First  labours  among  the  Albigenses,  9. 


.^Dominic 


CHAPTER  IT. 


]/ 


>minic  in  Languedoc.    The  miracles  of  Fanjeaux  and  Montreal. 
The  foundation  of  the  Convent  of  Prouille,  14 


CHAPTER  V. 

Diego  returns  to  Spain.  His  death.  Dominic  remains  in  Langue- 
doc. The  murder  of  Peter  de  Castelnau,  and  the  commencement 
of  the  Albigensian  war,  20.  • 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Proclamation  of  the  Crusade.     Simon  de  Montfort.     Dominio 
among  the  heretics.    His  apostolic  labours,  27. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  institution  of  the  Rosary.   The  Council  of  Lavaur.  The  battle 
ofMuret,  41. 


VIA  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Dominic  commences  the  foundation  of  his  order  at  Toulouse.  The 
grant  of  Fulk  of  Toulouse.  Dominic's  second  visit  to  Home. 
The  Council  of  Lateran.  Innocent  III.  approves  the  plan  of 
the  Order.    Meeting  of  Dominic  and  Francis,  52. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Dominic's  return  to  France.  The  brethren  assemble  at  Prouille  to 
choose  a  rule.  The  spirit  of  the  Order.  Some  account  of  the 
first  followers  of  Dominic.    Tne  convent  of  S.  Romain,  62. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Dominicls  third  visit  to  Koine.  Confirmation  of  the  Order  by 
HUlionus  111.  Dominic's  vision  in  St.  Peter's.  He  is  appointed 
master  of  the  Sacred  Palace.    Ugolino  of  Ostia,  72. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Dominic  returns  to  Toulouse.  He  disperses  the  community  of 
S.  Eomain.  His  address  to  the  people  of  Languedoc.  Future 
affairs  of  the  totter  in  that  country,  77.  ' 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Dominic's  fourth  vist  to  Konie.    His  mode  of  travelling,  86. 

U  CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  convent  of  S.  Sixtus.  Rapid  increase  of  the  Order.  Miracles 
and  popularity  of  S.  Dominic.    The  visit  of  the  angels,  92. 

+  CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  monatstery  of  Santa  Maria  in  Trastevere.  Dominic  is  ap- 
pointed to  reform  and  inclose  the  community.  His  sucoess. 
Their  settlement  at  S.  Sixtus.  The  restoration  to  life  of  the 
Lord  Napoleon.    Sister  Cecilia,  102. 


CONTENTS.  XX 

•  CHAPTER  XV. 

Affairs  of  the  Order  in  France.  First  settlement  of  the  brethren 
at  the  convent  of  S.  James  at  Paris.  Foundation  at  Rif>1ftg'"'a- 
Character  of  the  religious  houses  of  the  Ul'fler.  Settlement  of 
the  Friars  in  Spain  and  Portugal.  Brothers  Tancrod  and  Henry 
of  Eome,  108. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Dominic  at  Santa  Sahina.  The  vocation  of  S.  Hyacinth.  Regi- 
nald of  Orleans.  The  Blessed  Virgin  bestows  on  him  the  habit 
of  the  Order,  118. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Dominic's  life  at  Eome.  The  rule  of  the  Order.  Description  of 
his  person  and  appearance.    His  prayer,  and  manner  of  hfe,  125. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Attacks  of  the  Devil.    Legends  of  S.  Sabina  and  S.  Sixtus,  133. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Dominic  leaves  Rome.  He  visits  Bologna  on  his  way  to  Spain. 
Incidents  of  his  journey.  He  preaches  at  Segovia.  Foundations 
there,  and  at  Madrid.    His  continual  prayer,  142. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Return  to  S.  Romain.  He  proceeds  to  Paris.  Jordan  of  Saxony. 
Interview  with  Alexander,  King  of  Scotland.  Return  to  Italv, 
152. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  Convent  of  Bologna.  Effects  of  Reginald's  preaching  and 
government.  Fervour  of  the  Community  of  S.  Nicholas. 
Conversion  of  Fathers  Roland  and  Moneta.  Dispersion  of 
the  brethren  through  the  cities  of  Northern  Italy.  Reginald's 
novices.  Robaldo.  Bonviso  of  Placentia.  Stephen  of  Spain. 
Rodolph  of  Faenza.  Reginald  is  sent  to  Paris.  Jordan  joins 
the  Order.    Reginald's  success- and  death,  158. 


SS? 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXII.* 

£*""ljominic  journeys  through  Italy,  and  returns  to  Eome  for  the  fifth 
~~^iffie:--lrfCTe"ffSB"T>f  ^the  Order.     Characters  of  the  first  fathers. 
Interview  with  S.  Francis.    Favours  of  the  Holy  See,  173. 


**<First  gen 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


Tirst  general  Chapter  at  Bologna^  Law  of  poverty.  The  Order 
spreads  through  Europe.  Dominic's  illness  at  Milan.  Yisit  to 
Siena.  Tancred.  Apostolic  journeys  through  Italy.  Return  to 
Bologna,  and  conversion  of  Master  Conrad.  John  of  Yicenza. 
Anecdotes,  178. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Heretics  of  northern  Italy.  Foundation  of  the  third  Order.  Last 
visit  to  Home.  Meeting  with  Fulk  of  Toulouse.  Second  general 
chapter.  Division  of  the  Order  into  provinces.  Blessed  Paul 
of  Hungary.    S.  Peter  Martyr,  190. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  Order  in  England.  Arrival  at  Oxford  of  Gilbert  de  Fresnoy. 
Celebrated  Englishmen  of  the  Order.  "Walter  Malclerk,  Bacon, 
and  Fishacre.  The  Order  and  the  Universities.  The  German 
province,  199. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Dominic's  last  missionary  journey.  His  return  to  Bologna,  and 
illness.  His  death.  Kevelations  of  his  glory.  His  canoniza- 
tion, and  the  translation  of  his  relics,  207. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Dominic's  writings.  His  supposed  defence  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception.  His  portraits  By  Fra  Angelico,  and  in  the  verses 
of  Dante.    Observations  on  the  Order,  218. 


CONTENTS.  XI 

PART  II. 

THE  DOMINICAN  ORDER. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Progress  of  the  Order  after  the  death  of  S.  Dominio.     Missions.      ^ 
Rjise  ofjhe.  JDpminican  school  of  theology.     Albert  the  Gr3at     ^^ 
and  S.  Thomas.    The  Universities.    Influence  of  the  Order  on 
langnage,  poetry,  and  society.     S.  Raymund  Ponnafort.     In- 
ffiience  on  other  religions  bodies,  225 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  14th  century.  Pestilence  of  1348.  The  great  schism.  S. 
Catherine  of  Siena.  Reform  of  the  Order.  S.  Vincent  Ferrer. 
Greatness  of  the  Order  during  this  period.  Its  foreign  missions. 
Its  prelates.  S.  Antoninus.  Council  of  Basle.  Zeal  of  the 
Order  in  defence  of  the  Holy  See.  Council  of  Florence.  John 
Torquemada,  261. 

CHAPTER  III. 

Santa  Maria  Novella.    Passavanti.     Connection  of  art  with  reli- 
gious reform.    B.  John  Dominic.      Foundation  of  the  convent      _-V- 
of  Fiesole.     Fra  Angelico.     Savonarola ;  his  idea  of  Christian  \ 

art  and  literature  :  his  fall.  Fra  Bartolomeo.  Bartholomew 
of  the  Martyrs  at  the  court  of  Pius  IT.  Later  artists  of  the 
Order,  279. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Close  of  the  15th  century.  Discovery  of  America.  First  Dominican 
missions  in  the  new  world.  Bartholomew  de  Las  Casas.  Jerome 
Loaysa.    S.  Louis  Bertrand.    The  Philippine  Islands,  317. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  16th  century.  Revival  of  biblical  learning.  Zenobius 
Acciajoli.  Giustiniani.  Sanctes  Pagninus.  Sixtes  of  Siena. 
Cajetan.  Scenes  of  the  Reformation.  Persecutions  in  Ireland. 
Irish  martyrs.    Dominican  Popes.    The  Council  of  Trent,  334 


XU  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


Declension  of  religion  in  the  17th  century.  Distinguished 
reformers  of  the  Order.  Sebastian  Michaelis.  Anthony  le 
Quieu.  John  B.  Carre.  Cardinal  Howard.  Massoulie.  Fatalis 
Alexander.  Distinguished  religious  women.  Juliana  Morelle. 
Vittoria  Dolara,  353. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Pontificate  of  Benedict  XIII.     Missions  and  martyrs  of  Chiua. 
Dominican  saints.    Conclusion,  364. 


THE  LIFE  OF  S.  DOMINIC. 


— coo — 

CHAPTER  I. 

The  birth  of  Dominic.    His  youth  and  university  life. 

It  was  in  the  year  1170,  during  the  pontificate  of 
Alexander  III.,  that  Dominic  Gusman,  the  founder  of  the 
order  of  Friars  Preachers,  was  born  at  his  father's  castle 
of  Calargo,  in  Old  Castile.  The  history  of  a  genealogy, 
however  illustrious,  seems  scarcely  to  find  its  place  in  the 
biography  of  a  saint ;  though  indeed  few  families  can  boast 
of  one  more  honourable  than  that  of  the  Castilian  Gusmans. 
But  if  their  long  line  of  chivalrous  ancestors,  and  the  royal 
privileges  granted  to  them  by  the  kings  of  Spain,  have  no 
claim  to  be  noticed  here,  the  immediate  ancestors  of  S. 
Dominic  possesed  at  least  one  distinction  which  had  a  more 
powerful  influence  on  his  life.  They  were  a  family  of 
saints.  The  household  of  his  father,  Don  Felix  Gusman, 
was  so  remarkable  for  the  religious  character  of  its  inmates, 
that  it  was  said  to  resemble  rather  a  monastery  than  a 
knightly  castle.  His  mother,  Joanna  of  Aza,  after  being 
constantly  held  in  popular  veneration,  has,  almost  within 
our  own  time,  received  the  solemn  beatification  of  the 
Church.  The  same  testimony  has  been  borne  to  the  hetric 
sanctity  of  Manez,  her  second  son ;  and  though  Antonio, 
the  eldest  of  the  three  brothers,  has  not  indeed  received 
similar  honours,  yet  was  he  no  unworthy  member  of  his 
'illustrious  family.  We  read  of  him  that  he  became  a 
secular  priest,  in  which  position  he  might  have  aspired  to 
the  highest  ecclesiastical  distinctions ;  but,  enamoured  of 
holy  poverty,  he  distributed  his  patrimony  to  the  poor,  and 


Z  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIO. 

retired  to  an  hospital  where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  hia 
days  in  humble  ministering  to  the  sick. 

The  future  greatness  of  her  youger  son  was  announced 
to  Johanna  even  before  his  birth.  The  mysterious  vision 
of  a  dog,  bearing  in  his  mouth  a  lighted  torch  which  set 
fire  to  the  world,  appeared  to  indicate  the  power  of  that 
doctrine  which  should  kindle  and  illuminate  men's  hearts 
through  the  ministry  of  his  words.  The  noble  lady  who 
held  him  at  the  font  saw,  as  the  water  was  poured  on  his 
head,  a  brilliant  star  shining  on  the  infant's  forehead  : 
and  this  circumstance,  which  is  mentioned  in  the  earliest 
life  which  we  have  of  the  saint  (that  of  Blessed  ^Jordan), 
bears  a  singular  connection  with  the  beautiful  description 
of  his  appearance  in  after-life,  left  by  his  spiritual  daugh- 
ter, the  Blessed  Cecilia ;  in  which  she  says,  among  other 
things,  that  "from  his  forehead,  and  between  his  brows, 
there  shone  forth  a  kind  of  radiant  light,  which  filled 
men  with  respect  and  love."  Nor  were  the  expectations 
which  were  excited  by  these  prodigies  in  any  way  dimi- 
nished by  the  promises  of  his  childhood.  His  early  years 
were  passed  in  a  holy  household,  and  his  first  impressions 
were  received  from  the  all-powerful  influence  of  a  saintly 
mother.  Amid  the  associations  of  a  Christian  family,  his 
mind  was  moulded  into  a  religious  shape  even  from  his 
cradle ;  and  the  effect  of  this  training  is  to  be  traced  in 
the  character  of  his  maturer  sanctity.  From  first  to  last 
we  admire  the  same  profound  and  unruffled  tranquillity 
of  soul.  So  far  as  his  interior  life  is  revealed  to  us,  he 
seems  to  have  kndwn  nothing  of  those  storms  and  agita- 
tions through  which  the  human  mind  so  often  works  its 
wa}r  to  God;  nothing  seems  to  have  interrupted  the  up- 
ward growth  of  his  soul ;  and  even  the  tales  of  his  combats 
with  the  powers  of  evil  give  us  more  the  idea  of  triumphs 
achieved,  than  of  temptations  suffered  and  overcome. 

When  seven  years  old,  he  was  committed  to  the  charge 
of  his  uncle,  the  arch-priest  of  Gumiel  di  Izan,  a  town 
not  far  from  Calaroga.  Here  he  grew  up  in  the  service  *" 
of  the  altar,  finding  his  pleasure  in  frequenting  the 
churches,  and  learning  to  recite  the  divine  oflice,  in  sing- 
ing hymns,  and  serving  at  mass,  and  other  public  cere- 


HIS   YOUTH   AND    UNIVERSITY    LIFE.  3 

monies ;  and  in  all  those  numberless  little  devout  offices 
which  make  the  life  of  so  many  Catholic  boys  much  like 
that  of  the  child  Samuel  in  the  Temple.  To  Dominic 
they  were  all  labours  of  love ;  and  his  biographers  dwell 
on  the  devotion  kindled  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  saw 
the  grave  and  reverent  manner  with  which  he  bore  him- 
self in  the  presence  of  the  Most  Holy  Sacrament,  or 
busied  himself  in  the  cleaning  and  adorning  of  the  altar. 
At  fourteen  he  was  sent  to  the  university  of  Palencia, 
then  one  of  the  most  celebrated  in  Spain.  He  was  but 
young  to  be  suddenly  removed  from  so  retired  and 
sheltered  a  home  into  intercourse  with  a  world,  of  which 
as  yet  he  knew  nothing.  With  how  many  would  such  a 
change  have  brought  only  the  rapid  loss  of  all  which  had 
hitherto  rendered  his  life  so  innocent  and  happy.  But 
to  Dominic  it  did  but  give  room  for  larger  growth  in 
holiness.  During  the  ten  years  of  his  residence  at 
Palencia,  he  was  equally  distinguished  for  his  application 
to  study,  and  for  the  angelic  purity  of  his  life.  Worldly 
pleasures  afforded  no  seductions  to.  one  who  from  his  very 
birth  had  received  an  attraction  to  the  things  of  God. 
Even  human  science  failed  to  satisfy  his  desires,  and  he 
hastened  to  apply  himself  to  the  study  of  theology,  as  to 
the  only  fountain  whose  limpid  waters  were  capable  of 
quenching  the  thirst  of  his  soul  after  the  highest  truth. 
He  spent  four  years  in  the  most  profound  application  to 
philosophy  and  sacred  letters ;  often  spending  his  nights 
as  well  as  his  days  over  his  books ;  and,  convinced  that 
Divine  Science  can  only  be  acquired  by  a  mind  that  has 
learnt  to  subjugate  the  flesh,  he  practised  a  rigid  austerity, 
and  for  ten  years  never  broke  the  rule  he  imposed  on  him- 
self at  the  commencement  of  his  studies,  to  abstain  entirely 
from  wine. 

The  influence  of  a  holy  life  is  never  unfelt  by  those 
who  would  be  the  last  to  imitate  its  example.  Dominic's 
companions  bore  witness,  by  their  respect,  to  the  subli- 
mity of  a  virtue  far  above  the  standard  of  their  own  lives. 
Boy  as  he  was,  none  ever  spoke  with  him  without  going 
away  the  better  for  his  words,  and  feeling  the  charm 
of  that  Divine  grace  which  shone  even  in  his  exterior 
B  2 


4  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

gestures.  "  It  was  a  thing  most  marvellous  and  lovely  U 
behold,"  says  Theodoric  of  Apoldia  ;  "  this  man,  a  boy  in 
years,  but  a  sage  in  wisdom ;  superior  to  the  pleasures  of 
his  age,  he  thirsted  only  after  justice;  and  not  to  lose 
time,  he  preferred  the  bosom  of  his  mother  the  Church, 
to  the  aimless  and  objectless  life  of  the  foolish  world 
around  him.  The  sacred  repose  of  her  tabernacle  was 
his  resting-place;  all  his  time  was  equally  divided  be- 
tween prayer  and  study ;  and  God  rewarded  the  fervent 
love  with  which  he  kept  His  commandments,  by  bestowing 
on  him  such  a  spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding,  as  made 
it  easy  for  him  to  resolve  the  most  deep  and  difficult  ques- 
tions." 

Before  we  quit  his  University  life,  two  circumstances 
must  be  recorded,  which  happened  during  its  course,  and 
illustrate  the  peculiar  gentleness  and  tenderness  of  his 
character.  Such  terms  may  seem  strange  to  a  Pro- 
testant reader,  for  there  is,  as  it  were,  a  traditional 
portrait  of  S.  Dominic,  handed  down  from  one  age  to 
another  by  means  of  epithets,  which  writers  are  content 
to  repeat,  and  readers  to  receive,  without  a  thought  of 
inquiry  as  to  their  justice.  We  can  scarcely  open  a  book 
which  professes  to  give  the  history  of  the  thirteenth 
century  and  its  religious  features,  without  finding  some- 
thing about  "  the  cruel  and  blood-thirsty  Dominic,"  or  the 
"  gloomy  founder  of  the  Inquisition;"  and  under  this 
popular  idea  the  imagination  depicts  him  as  a  dark- 
browed,  mysterious  zealot,  without  a  touch  of  human 
tenderness,  remorselessly  handing  over  to  the  flames  the 
victims  of  his  morose  fanaticism.  The  author  of  the  well- 
known  "  Handbook,"  from  which  so  many  English  travel- 
lers gather  their  little  stock  of  knowledge  on  Italian 
matters,  finds  something  of  an  almost  providential  signi- 
ficancy  in  the  fact  that  the  tree  planted  by  the  father  of 
the  Friars  Preachers  in  his  convent-garden  at  Bologna, 
should  be  the  "  dark  and  melancholy  cypress."  And  all 
the  while  the  true  tradition  of  his  character  is  one  pre- 
eminently of  joy  and  gentleness.  With  his  fair  auburn 
hair  and  beaming  smile,  he  does  not  present  in  his  exterior 
a   more   perfect   contrast   to  the  received   notion   of  the 


HIS   YOUTH   AND   UNIVERSITY   LIFE.  5 

Spanish  Iiquisitor,  than  may  he  found  in  the  tales  of 
tender-hearted  compassion,  which  are  almost  all  we  know  of 
him  during  the  first  twenty  years  of  his  life.  We  find 
him,  in  the  midst  of  the  famine  which  then  desolated 
Spain,  so  sensibly  touched  with  the  sufferings  of  the 
people,  that  not  only  did  he  give  all  he  had,  in  alms, 
selling  his  very  clothes  to  feed  the  poor, — but  he  set  a 
yet  nobler  example  of  charity  to  his  fellow-students  by  at 
sacrifice  which  may  well  be  believed  to  have  been  a  hard 
one.  His  dear  and  precious  books  were  all  that  remained 
to  give;  and  even  those  he  parted  with,  that  their  price 
might  be  distributed  to  the  starving  multitudes.  To 
estimate  the  cost  of  such  an  act,  we  must  remember  the 
rarity  and  costliness  of  manuscripts  in  those  days,  many 
having  probably  been  laboriously  copied  out  by  his  own 
hands.  Yet  when  one  of  his  companions  expressed  astonish- 
ment that  he  should  deprive  himself  of  the  means  of 
pursuing  his  studies,  he  replied,  in  words  preserved  by 
Theodoric  of  Apoldia,  and  treasured  by  after-writers  as 
the  first  which  have  come  down  to  posterity,  "Would 
you  have  me  study  off  those  dead  parchments,  when  there 
were  men  dying  of  hunger?"  This  example  roused  the 
charity  of  the  professors  and  students  of  the  university, 
and  an  effort  was  soon  made  which  relieved  the  sufferers 
from  their  most  urgent  wants.  On  another  occasion, 
finding  a  poor  woman  in  great  distress  on  account  of  the 
captivity  of  her  only  son,  who  had  been  taken  by  the 
Moors,  Dominic,  having  no  money  to  offer  for  his  ransom, 
desired  her  to  take  him  and  sell  him,  and  release  her  son 
with  his  price :  and  though  this  was  not  permitted  to  be 
done,  yet  the  fact  exhibits  him  to  us  under  a  character 
which  is  strangely  opposed  to  the  vulgar  tradition  of  his 
severity  and  gloom. 

It  is  said  by  some  authors,  that  his  early  desires  led 
him  to  form  plans  for  the  foundation  of  an  order  for  the 
Itedemption  of  Captives,  similar  to  that  afterwards  es- 
tablished by  S.  John  of  Matha;  but  of  this  we  find  no 
authoritative  mention  in  the  writers  of  his  own  order ;  and 
it  is  probable  that  the  idea  arose  from  the^faof  to  which 
allusion  has  just  been  made. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Dominic  is  appointed  canon  of  Osma<     His  mission  to  the  north  in 
company  with  Diego  of  Azevedo  . 

[It  was  not  until  his  25th  year  that  Dominic  was  called 
to  the  ecclesiastical  state./  Until  that  time  the  designs  of 
God  regarding  him  had  not  been  clearly  manifested;  but 
some  important  changes  which  took  place  in  the  diocese 
of  Osma  were  the  means  of  bringing  him  into  a  position 
where  the  latent  powers  of  his  soul  were  displayed  before 
the  eyes  of  the  world.  Martin  de  Bazan  at  that  time 
ruled  the  Church  of  Osma;  a  man  of  eminent  holiness, 
and  most  zealous  for  the  restoration  of  Church  discipline. 
Following  the  plan  then  generally  adopted  in  most  of  the 
countries  of  Europe,  he  had  engaged  in  the  difficult  but 
important  task  of  converting  the  canons  of  his  cathedral 
into  canons  regular,  an  arrangement  by  which  they 
became  subject  to  stricter  ecclesiastical  discipline  and 
community-life.  In  this  labour  he  had  been  greatly 
assisted  by  a  man  whose  name  will  ever  have  a  peculiar 
interest  to  all  the  children  of  S.  Dominic, — Don  Diego 
de  Azevedo,  the  first  prior  of  the  new  community,  and 
afterwards  successor  to  Martin  in  the  episcopal  see.  The 
name  of  Dominic,  and  the  reputation  of  his  singular 
holiness  no  less  than  of  his  learning,  had  already  reached 
the  ears  of  both;  and  they  determined,  if  possible,  to 
secure  him  as  a  member  of  the  chapter,  not  doubting 
but  the  influence  of  his  example  and  doctrine  would 
greatly  assist  their  designs  of  reform.  In  his  25th  year, 
therefore,  he  received  the  habit  of  the  Canons  Regular,  and 
the  influence  of  his  character  was  so  soon  felt  and  appre- 
ciated by*  his  brethren,  that  he  was  shortly  afterwards 
chosen  suteprior,  in  spite  of  nis  being  the  youngest  of  the 
whole  body  of  canons. 


HE   IS   APPOINTED   CANON   OF   OSMA.  7 

Nine  years-  were  thus  spent  at  Osma,  during  which 
time  God  was  doubtless  gradually  training  and  preparing 
his  soul  for  the  great  work  of  his  future  life.\  Jordan  of 
Saxony  has  left  us  a  beautiful  sketch  of  his  manner  of  life 
at  this  period.  "Now  it  was,"  he  says,  "that  he  began 
to  appear  among  his  brethren  like  a  bright  burning 
torch,  the  first  in  holiness,  the  last  in  humility,  spreading 
about  him  an  odour  of  life  which  gave  life,  and  a  perfume 
like  the  sweetness  of  summer  days.  Day  and  night  he 
was  in  the  church,  praying  as  it  were  without  ceasing. 
God  gave  him  the  grace  to  weep  for  sinners  and  for  the 
afflicted;  he  bore  their  sorrows  in  an  inner  sanctuary  of 
holy  compassion,  and  so  this  loving  compassion  which 
pressed  on  his  heart  flowed  out  and  escaped  in  tears.  It 
was  his  custom  to  spend  the  night  in  prayer,  and  to  speak 
to  God  with  his  door  shut  But  often  there  might  be 
heard  the  voice  of  his  groans  and  sighs,  which  burst  from 
him  against  his  will.  His  one  constant  petition  to  God 
was  for  the  gift  of  a  true  charity ;  for  he  was  persuaded 
that  he  could  not  be  truly  a  member  of  Christ  unless  he 
consecrated  himself  wholly  to  the  work  of  gaining  souls, 
following  the  example  of  Him  who  sacrificed  himself 
without  reserve  for  our  redemption." 

It  is  interesting,  among  the  very  scanty  details  left  us 
of  Dominic's  early  years,  to  find  two  books  mentioned, 
the  study  of  which  seems  to  have  had  an  extraordinary 
influence  in  forming  and  directing  his  mind.  The  one 
was,  the  "Dialogues  of  Cassian ;"  and  the  other,  the 
"Epistles  of  St.  Paul."  In  after-years  he  always  carried 
a  copy  of  the  Epistles  about  his  person,  and  he  seems  to 
have  shaped  his  whole  idea  of  an  apostolic  life  after  the 
model  of  this  great  master.  In  1201,  Don  Diego  de 
Azevedo  succeeded  to  the  bishopric  of  Osma,  and  two 
years  afterwards  was  appointed  by  Alfonso  VIII. ,  the 
king  of  Castile,  to  negotiate  a  marriage  between  his 
eldest  son  and  a  princess  of  Denmark.  He  accordingly 
set  out  for  the  north,  taking  Dominic  as  his  companion ; 
and  it  was  on  the  occasion  of  this  journey  that,  as  they 
passed  through  the  south  of  France,  the  frightful  cha- 
racter and  extent  of  the  Albigensian  heresy,  which  then 


J 


b  LIFE   OF    8.    DOMINIC. 

infected  the  -whole  of  the  southern  provinces,  first  came 
under  their  notice.  Though  they  were  not  then  able  to 
commence  the  apostolic  labours  for  which  they  saw  there 
was  so  urgent  a  demand,  yet  an  impression  was  left  on 
the  hearts  of  both  which  was  never  effaced ;  and  Dominic 
felt  that  his  life,  which  had  hitherto  seemed  without  any 
determinate  call  or  destiny,  had  been,  as  it  were,  reserved 
for  a  work  which  he  now  saw  clear  before  him.  Probably 
this  feeling  was  strengthened  by  a  circumstance  which 
occurred  at  Toulouse,  where  they  stopped  for  a  night  on 
their  journey.  The  house  where  they  lodged  was  kept  by 
a  man  who  belonged  to  the  sect  of  the  Albigenses,  and 
when  Dominic  became  aware  of  the  fact,  he  resolved  to 
attempt  at  least  to  gain  this  one  soul  back  to  the  faith. 
The  time  was  short,  but  the  dispute  was  prolonged 
during  the  whole  night  ;  and  in  the  morning  the 
eloquence  and  fervour  of  his  unknown  guest  had  con- 
quered the  obduracy  of  the  heretic;  before  they  left  the 
house  he  made  his  submission,  and  was  received  back 
into  the  bosom  of  the  Church.  The  effect  of  this  first 
conquest  on  Dominic's  mind  was  a  feeling  of  unspeakable 
gratitude,  and  a  determination,  so  soon  as  he  should  be 
free  to  act,  to  found  an  order  ft)*,  the  express  purpose 
of  preaching  the  faith.  Castiglio,  m  his  history  of  the 
order,  tells  us  that  the  embassy  on  which  Diego  and 
Dominic  were  employed  was  not  to  Denmark,  but  to 
the  court  of  France,  and  that  it  was  on  this  occasion 
that,  finding  Queen  Blanche  in  much  affliction  on  account 
of  her  being  without  children,  Dominic  recommended  to 
her  the  use  of  the  Rosary.  The  Queen,  he  adds,  not 
only  adopted  the  devotion  herself,  but  propagated  it 
among  her  people,  and  distributed  Rosaries  amongst 
them,  engaging  them  to  join  their  prayers  to  hers, 
that  her  desire  might  be  granted;  and  the  son  whom 
God  gave  in  answer  to  those  prayers  was  no  other  than 
the  great  S.  Louis.  This  is  the  first  direct  mention  of 
the  devotion  of  the  Rosary  which  we  find  in  S.  Dominic's 
life ;  it  is  probable,  from  the  date  of  S.  Louis'  birth, 
which  is  generally  given  in  1215,  that  the  cireumstar  >es 
referred   to,   if    they  ever   really  took  place,  occurred    at 


HIS   MISSION   WITH   DIEGO    OF   AZEVEDO.  9 

some  later  visit  to  the  French  court.  But  though  there 
is  evidently  some  confusion  in  the  time,  we  do  not  like 
altogether  to  abandon  the  story  as  without  foundation; 
for  there  is  always  a  peculiar  charm  in  the  little  links 
which  unite  the  lives  of  two  great  saints  together,  and 
those  who  claim  any  interest  in  the  order  of  S.  Dominic 
may  feel  a  pleasure  in  thinking  of  S.  Louis  as  a  child  of 
the  Kosary. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Pilgrimage  to  Rome.    First  labours  among  the,Albigenses 

The  death  of  the  princess,  whose  marriage  they  were 
negotiating,  whilst  engaged  in  a  second  embassy  at 
her  father's  court,  having  relieved  Diego  and  Dominic 
from  their  charge  in  this  affair,  they  determined  to  take 
the  occasion  of  their  absence  from  the  diocese,  to  visit 
Rome  on  pilgrimage  before  returning  to  Spain.  Many 
motives  concurred  in  inducing  them  to  undertake  this 
journey;  but  with  Diego  the  most  powerful  one  was  the 
desire  to  obtain  permission  from  Pope  Innocent  III.  to 
resign  his  bishopric,  and  undertake  the  labours  of  an 
apostolic  missionary  life  among  the  Cuman  Tartars,  who 
were  then  ravaging  the  fold  of  Christ  in  Hungary  and 
the  surrounding  countries.  It  would  seem  as  if  the 
impressions  made  on  the  minds  of  these  two  great  men 
by  what  they  had  witnessed  of  the  sufferings  of  the 
Church  in  their  journey  through  Europe,  had  been  of 
that  kind  which  is  never  effaced,  and  which,  whenever 
it  touches  the  soul,  is  to  it  the  commencement  of  a  new 
life.  In  them  it  had  kindled  the  desire  to  devote  them- 
selves to  a  far  wider  field  of  labour  than  the  limits  of  one 
diocese:  they  had  both  received  the  heroic  call  of  the 
apostolate.  The  state  of  the  Church  at  that  time  was 
one  which  might  well  make  such  an  appeal  to  hearts 
ready   to   receive   it.      "Without   were   fightings,   within 


10  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

were  fears."  Whilst  hordes  of  savage  and  heathen  ene- 
mies were  pressing  hard  on  the  outworks  of  Christendom, 
and  watering  the  ground  with  the  blood  of  unnumbered 
martyrs,  heresy,  as  we  have  seen,  was  at  work  within 
the  fold;  and  during  this  memorable  year,  Diego  and 
Dominic  had  in  some  degree  been  eye-witnesses  of  both 
these  evils.  We  know  in  what  manner  they  had  been 
thrown  among  the  Albigenses  of  France,  and  it  is  at 
least  probable,  that  in  the  course  of  their  Danish  journey 
they  had  become  in  some  way  more  vividly  aware  of  the 
dangers  4f  which  the  northern  nations  were  exposed. 
Pope  Innocent,  however,  knew  the  value  of  Diego  too 
well  to  grant  him  the  permission  he  sought,  and  exhorted 
him  not  to  abandon  that  charge  which  God  had  given 
him  in  his  Church,  but  to  reassume  the  care  of  his 
diocese;  and  after  a  short  residence  in  Rome,  the  two 
friends  accordingly  prepared  to  return  to  Spain,  it  being 
then  the  March  of  the  year  1205. 

They  had  come  to  Rome  as  pilgrims,  and  it  was  in  the 
same  spirit  that,  on  their  journey  home,  they  turned  from 
the  direct  road  in  order  to  visit  the  celebrated  abbey  of 
Citeaux,  which  the  fame  of  S.  Bernard  had  made  illus- 
trious throughout  Europe.  The  charm  of  its  religious 
character  and  associations  captivated  the  heart  of  Diego ; 
doubtless  the  failure  of  his  deeply-cherished  plan  had 
been  no  little  pain  to  him,  and  his  return  to  Osma  was 
a  hard  obedience.  He  was  suffering  under  that  strange 
thirst  to  strip  himself  of  the  world,  which  sometimes 
attacks  the  soul  at  the  very  time  when  it  bows  to  the 
law  that  forces  it  back  to  the  world's  duty.  Very  wil- 
lingly would  he  have  remained  at  Citeaux,  and  commenced 
his  noviciate  in  that  school  of  holy  living;  but  as  this 
could  not  be,  he  contented  himself  with  taking  the  habit 
of  the  order,  and  soliciting  that  he  might  carry  some  of 
tht  religious  back  with  him  to  Spain,  to  learn  from  them 
their  rule  and  manner  of  life.  It  is  interesting  to  us  to 
know  that  he  was  probably  moved  to  this  by  the  example 
of  our  own  S.  Thomas  of  Canterbury,  who.  several  years 
before,  had  received  the  religious  habit  at  the  same  monas- 
tery, whilst  in  exile  from  his  diocese,   and  whose  popu- 


LABOUR*?   AMONG   THE   ALBIGENSES,  11 

larity  as  a  saint  was  just  at  that  time  at  its  greatest 
height.  After  this  he  no  longer  delayed  his  homeward 
journey;  but,  accompanied  by  Dominic  and  some  of  the 
Cistercian  brethren,  he  set  out  for  Spain,  and  soon  arrived 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Montpellier. 

And  here,  if  we  may  so  speak,  the  will  of  God  awaited 
them.  Those  inward,  stirrings  which  both  had  felt,  yet 
had  not  fully  comprehended,  had  truly  been  the  whisper- 
ings of  the  Divine  voice ;  and  dimly  feeling  in  the  dark, 
in  obedience  to  the  hand  that  was  beckoning  them  on, 
the  dream  of  a  martyr's  crown  among  the  Cumans,  or  a 
monk's  cowl  at  Citeaux,  had,  as  it  were,  been  two  false 
guesses  as  to  what  that  whisper  meant.  This  feature  in 
what  we  may  call  the  vocation  of  S.  Dominic  is  worthy  of 
notice,  because  whilst  we  are  often  inclined  to  regret  that 
more  details  of  his  personal  life  have  not  been  preserved, 
there  is  a  peculiarity  in  this  early  portion  of  it,  not  with- 
out its  interest.  His  call  was  not  sudden,  or  miraculous, 
or  even  extraordinary ;  it  was  that  which  is  the  likeliest 
to  come  to  men  like  ourselves;  particular  impressions  of 
mind  were  given  just  at  the  time  when  circumstances 
combined  together  gradually  to  develop  the  way  in  which 
those  impressions  could  be  carried  out.  He  was  always 
being  led  forward,  not  knowing  whither  he  went.  As 
sub-prior  of  Osma  he  probably  saw  nothing  before  him 
but  the  ordinary  community-life  of  the  cathedral  chapter. 
Then  came  the  journey  to  Denmark,  on  a  mission  whose 
ostensible  subject  was  a  failure,  but  whose  real  end  in  the 
designs  of  God  was  accomplished  when  it  brought  him 
into  the  presence  of  the  heresy  which  it  was  his  destiny 
to  destroy.  Yet  though  we  have  reason  to  believe  that, 
from  the  time  of  his  first  collision  with  the  Albigenses,  a 
very  clear  and  distinct  idea  was  formed  in  his  mind  of 
some  future  apostolate  of  preaching,  it  is  evident  that 
lie  had  no  equally  clear  and  determinate  view  in  what 
direction  he  was  to  work ;  and  it  hung  on  circumstances 
alone,  and  on  the  will  of  another,  to  decide  whether  or  no 
he  were  to  end  his  days  as  a  nameless  missioner  among 
the  Tartars.  He  was  on  the  road  back  to  his  old  home, 
preparing  to  take  up  again  the  old  duties  and  the  old  life, 


12  LIFE   OP   S.   I>OMINIC. 

which  had  been  interrupted  by  two  years,  rich  with  new 
thoughts  and  hopes  now,  as  it  seemed,  to  be  for  ever 
abandoned ;  and  then,  when  he  had  made  what  was  pro- 
bably a  painful  sacrifice  of  great  desires,  those  mysterious 
orderings  of  Providence,  which  we  call  chance  and  coinci- 
dence, had  prepared  for  him,  under  the  walls  of  Mont- 
pellier,  a  combination  of  events  which  was  to  make  all 
clear. 

The  alarming  progress  and  character  of  the  Albigen- 
sian  heresy  had  at  length  determined  the  Roman  Pontiff 
on  active  measures  for  its  suppression.  A  commission 
had  been  appointed  for  that  purpose,  the  most  distin- 
guished members  of  which  were  Arnold,  abbot  of  Citeaux, 
and  Rodolph  and  Peter  de  Castelnau,  the  Papal  legates. 
These  were,  all  three,  Cistercian  monks,  and  with  them 
were  associated  several  other  abbots  of  the  same  order. 
They  found  their  task  a  difficult  one,  for  the  country  was 
entirely  in  the  power  of  Count  Raymond  of  Toulouse, 
the  avowed  protector  of  the  Albigenses;  and  unhappily 
the  bishops  and  clergy,  by  their  coldness  and  indifference, 
too  often  even  by  yet  more  culpable  irregularities,  were 
themselves  the  chief  causes  of  the  spread  of  the  evil. 
Innocent  III.,  in  a  letter  to  his  legates,  speaks  in  bitter 
and  yet  in  touching  terms  of  this  degeneracy  of  those 
who  should  have  been  foremost  in  the  ranks.  "The 
pastor,"  he  says,  "has  become  a  hireling;  he  no  longer 
feeds  the  flock,  but  himself;  wolves  enter  the  fold,  and  he 
is  not  there  to  oppose  himself  as  a  wall  against  the  ene- 
mies of  God's  house."  This  scandal  was  of  course  the 
great  weapon  used  by  the  heretics,  in  all  their  conferences 
with  the  legates.  It  was  a  short  and  triumphant  argu- 
ment to  quote  the  words  of  the  Gospel,  "  By  their  fruits 
shall  ye  know  them;"  and  then  to  point  at  the  careless 
and  worldly  character  of  the  priesthood.  Baffled  and 
confounded  in  all  their  efforts,  the  Catholic  leaders  had 
met  to  consult  together  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Mont- 
pellier ;  and  it  was  whilst  discussing  the  gloomy  prospects 
of  their  commission  that  they  heard  of  the  arrival  of  the 
two  travellers.  Their  reputation,  and  the  interest  they 
had  shown  in  the  state  of  the  distracted  province  on  the 


LABOURS  AMONG  THE  ALBIGENSES.  13 

occasion  of  their  former  visit,  were  well  known,  and  the 
legates  sent  them  an  invitation  to  assist  at  the  conference. 
It  was  accepted,  and  the  disappointments  and  perplexities 
of  the  whole  case  were  laid  before  them. 

The  chief  difficulty  in  their  way  was  the  impossibility 
of  convincing  the  heretics  that  the  truth  of  the  Christian 
faith  depended,  not  on  the  good  or  bad  example  of  indi- 
viduals, but  on  the  sure  and  infallible  word  of  God  made 
known  to  them  through  the  Church.  Diego  inquired 
very  particularly  concerning  the  mode  of  life  adopted  by 
the  legates  and  their  opponents,  and  gave  it  as  his 
opinion  that  the  great  obstacle  which  had  hindered  the 
work  of  souls,  had  been  the  neglect  of  Evangelical  poverty 
among  the  Catholic  missioners.  For  "  he  remarked," 
says  Blessed  Jordan,  "  that  the  heretics  attracted  men  by 
persuasive  means,  by  preaching,  and  a  great  outward 
show  of  sanctity,  whilst  the  legates  were  surrounded  by 
a  numerous  suite  of  followers,  with  horses  and  rich  ap- 
parel. Then  he  said,  '  It  is  not  thus,  my  brothers,  that 
you  must  act.  They  seduce  simple  souls  with  the  ap- 
pearances of  poverty  and  austerity :  by  presenting  to 
them  the  contrary  spectacle,  you  will  scarcely  edify  them ; 
you  may  destroy  them,  but  you  will  never  touch  their 
hearts.' "  The  words  of  Diego,  if  they  convinced  his 
hearers,  were  yet  a  little  unwelcome.  None  had  the 
courage  to  be  the  first  to  follow  the  hard  counsel,  and 
they  felt  the  want  of  one  possessed  of  the  chief  authority 
among  them  to  set  the  example  of  an  austere  reform,  and 
enforce  its  adoption  by  the  others.  "Excellent  father," 
they  said  to  Diego,  "what  would  you  have  us  do?" 
Then  the  spirit  of  God  came  upon  him,  and  he  said  "  Do 
as  I  am  about  to  do;"  and,  calling  his  attendants,  he 
gave  orders  that  they  should  return  to  Osma  with  all  the 
equipages  and  followers  who  accompanied  him.  A  little 
company  of  ecclesiastics  alone  remained,  of  whom  Dominic 
was  one ;  but  they  retained  nothing  of  external  pomp,  and 
affected  only  the  bearing  and  manners  of  the  humblest 
missioners.  The  example  was  instantly  followed  by  the 
other  legates,  and  each  one  sent  away  all  his  followers  and 
baggage,   retaining  only  the  books  necessary  for  the  re- 


14  LIFE   OP   S.    DOMINIC. 

cital  of  the  Divine  Office,  and  for  the  confutation  of  the 
heretics.  More  than  this,  feeling  the  power  of  Diego's 
character  and  influence,  they  unauimously  elected  him  as 
head  and  chief  of  the  Catholic  body,  and  Innocent  III,, 
to  whom  the  whole  of  the  circumstances  were  made 
known,  hesitated  not  to  grant  him  the  permission  which 
he  had  before  refused  in  the  case  of  the  Cumans :  he  was 
authorized  to  remain  in  the  French  provinces  for  the 
service  of  the  faith. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Dominic  in  Languedoc.    The  miracles  of  Fanjeaux  and  Montreal. 
The  foundation  of  the  Convent  of  Prouille  \ 

A  NEW  impulse  had  been  given  to  the  enterprise  on 
which  the  Catholics  of  Languedoc  had  embarked:  with 
the  apostolic  life  came  a  daily  increase  of  the  apostolic 
spirit.  It  was  a  very  different  thing  to  set  about  evan- 
gelizing a  country  encumbered  with  the  pomp  of  a  feudal 
retinue,  and  to  traverse  the  same  country  on  foot  with 
"neither  purse  nor  scrip,"  as  Diego  was  wont  to  send  out 
his  companions  daily  into  the  neighbouring  towns  and 
villages  to  preach  the  faith.  For  after  the  conference  at 
Montpellier  they  all  set  out  together  towards  Toulouse, 
stopping  at  different  places  on  the  road  to  preach  and 
hold  disputations  with  the  heretics,  as  they  were  moved 
by  the  Spirit  of  God.  We  are  assured  that  they  made 
this  journey  barefooted,  and  trusting  to  God's  providence 
alone  for  their  daily  wants ;  and  the  effect  of  this  new  way 
of  proceeding  was  soon  evident  in  the  success  which  at- 
tended their  labours.  At  Carmain,  a  town  near  Toulouse, 
the  residence  of  two  of  the  principal  Albigensian  leaders, 
Baldwin  and  Thierry,  the  people  received  the  missionaries 
so  warmly  that  they  were  only  prevented  from  expelling 
the  Albigenses  from  tHeir  territory  by  the  authority  of 
the  lord  of  the  place,  and  accompanied  the  legates  out  of 
the  town  on  their  departure  with  every  sign  of  respect. 
They  proceeded  iu  this  way  to  Beziers,  Carcassona;  and 


DOMINIC   IN    LANGUEDOC.  15 

other  places  in  the  surrounding  country,  confirming  the 
faith  of  the  Catholics,  and  in  many  instances  reconciling 
great  numbers  of  the  heretics  to  the  Church. 

Hitherto  Dominic's  part  in  these  transactions  has 
seemed  to  be  a  secondary  one :  he  has  appeared  before  us 
rather  as  the  follower  and  companion  of  the  bishop  of 
Osma,  than  as  the  man  whose  name  was  to  be  for  ever 
remembered  in  future  histories  as  the  chief  leader  in  this 
struggle  of  the  faith.  Few  probably  of  those  who  wit- 
nessed these  first  openings  of  the  campaign  against  the 
Albigenses,  would  have  believed  that  the  award  of  a 
deathless  fame  was  to  fall,  not  to  the  bishop,  whose 
prompt  and  commanding  spirit  had  been  so  readily  re- 
cognized by  those  who  had  unanimously  chosen  him  to 
be  their  chief,  but  to  one  who  followed  in  his  train, 
known  only  as  Brother  Dominic;  for  he  had  laid  aside 
even  the  title  of  sub-prior,  and  took  on  him  nothing  but 
the  inferior  part  of  the  subject  and  attendant  of  another. 
As  soon,  however,  as  the  disputes  with  the  heretics  began 
to  be  helct  of  which  we  have  spoken,  his  power  and  value 
were  felt.  Perhaps  they  were  best  evidenced  by  the 
bitter  hatred  which  the  heretics  conceived  against  him. 
The  same  sentiments  had  been  so  unequivocally  evinced 
towards  the  legate  Peter  de  Castelnau,  that  the  others  had 
persuaded  him  to  withdraw  for  a  while  from  the  enter- 
prise, in  order  not  to  exasperate  those  whom  it  was  their 
object  to  conciliate.  The  masterly  arguments  and  capti- 
vating eloquence  of  Dominic,  which  time  after  time 
.silenced  his  adversaries,  and  conquered  the  obstinacy  of 
vast  numbers  who  returned  to  the  obedience  of  the 
Church  after  many  of  these  conferences,  excited  a  no  less 
vindictive  feeling  against  him  in  the  minds  of  those  who 
might  be  confounded,  but  would  never  yield.  They  spoke 
of  him  as  their  most  dangerous  enemy,  and  did  not  even 
conceal  their  resolve  to  take  his  life,  whenever  chance 
should  give  them  the  opportunity.  He  behaved  on  this 
occasion  with  a  surprising  indifference :  the  service  of 
God  was  the  only  thing  that  he  saw  before  him ;  and  as 
his  days  were  spent  in  public  disputations,  his  nights 
were   consumed   in    interviews    with   those   who   secretly 


16  LIFE   OF  S.   DOMINIC. 

sought  his  counsel,  or  more  frequently  in  those  prayers, 
and  tears,  and  strong  intercessions  with  God  for  the 
souls  of  his  people,  which  were  more  powerful  anus  in 
fighting  the  battle  of  the  faith  than  were  the  wisdom  and 
eloquence  of  his  words. 

Among  the  conferences  held  at  this  time,  that  of  Fan- 
jeaux  was  the  most  important,  both  from  the  preparations 
made  by  both  sides,  and  the  extraordinary  nature  of  its 
termination.  It  would  seem  that  the  heretics  had  ap- 
pealed to  some  final  arbitration  of  their  differences,  and 
that  the  Catholic  leaders  had  not  only  responded  to  the 
challenge,  but  even  accepted  as  judges  in  the  controversy 
three  persons  whose  sentiments  were  commonly  known 
as  favourable  to  the  Albigenses  themselves.  Each  side 
had  put  together  in  writing  the  strongest  defence  of  their 
cause ;  that  of  the  Catholics  was  the  work  of  Dominic. 
The  three  arbitrators  having  heard  both  parties,  and  read 
the  written  apologies,  absolutely  refused  to  pronounce 
any  decision  on  the  case ;  and  in  this  perplexity  the  here- 
tics loudly  demanded  a  different  mode  of  trial,*  and  pro- 
posed that  both  books  should  be  committed  to  the  flames, 
that  God  might  declare  by  his  own  interposition  which 
cause  He  favoured.  "  Accordingly  a  great  fire  was 
lighted"  (says  Blessed  Jordan),  "and  the  two  volumes 
were  cast  therein  ;  that  of  the  heretics  was  immediately 
consumed  to  ashes ;  the  other,  which  had  been  written  by 
the  blessed  man  of  God,  Dominic,  not  only  remained  un- 
hurt,  but  was  borne  far  away  by  the  flames  in  presence  of 
the  whole  assembly.  Again  a  second  and  a  third  time 
they  threw  it  into  the  fire,  and  each  time  the  same  result 
clearly  manifested  which  was  the  true  faith,  and  the  holi- 
ness of  him  who  had  written  the  book.  This  miracle  is 
given  by  every  contemporaneous  writer.  It  is  mentioned 
in  the  lessons  for  the  Divine  office,  composed  by  Constan- 
tine  Medici,  bishop  of  Orvieto,  in  1254 ;  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing century  Charles  le  Bel,  King  of  France,  purchased 
the  house  where  the  event  took  place,  and  erected  it  into 
a  chapel  under  the  invocation  of  the  saint.  A  large  beam 
of  wood  on  which  the  paper  fell  when  tossed  away  by  the 
flames,  was  still  preserved  when    Castiglio  wrote  his  his- 


THE   MIRACLE   AT   MONTREAL.  17 

tory ;  and  there  does  not  even  seem  to  have  "been  any 
attempt  on  the  part  of  the  heretics  themselves  to  deny 
the  fact.  Yet  in  spite  of  this,  there  is  a  melancholy  sig- 
nificance in  the  expression  of  the  historian.  "  A  few  of 
the  heretics  were  converted  to  the  truth  of  our  holy  faith, 
but  as  to  the  rest,  it  produced  no  effect ;  this  being  the 
just  reward  of  their  great  sins."*  It  would  seem  as  if  every 
age  and  every  heresy  were  to  act  over  again  the  scenes  of 
Christ's  ministry  in  Judea :  signs  and  miracles  were  thrown 
away  on  those  who  had  Moses  and  the  prophets,  and  would 
not  believe. 

This  was  not  the  only  occasion  when  a  miracle  of  this 
kind  was  wrought.  A  similar  prodigy  took  place  at 
Montreal,  in  the  diocese  of  Carcassona,  under  different 
circumstances.  Dominic  had,  in  the  course  of  one  of  his 
public  disputations,  written  down  on  a  sheet  of  paper 
various  quotations  from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  he 
had  cited  in  the  course  of  his  argument,  and  these  he 
gave  to  one  of  the  heretics,  praying  him  to  consider  them 
well,  and  not  to  resist  the  conclusion  to  which  they  might 
bring  him.  The  same  evening,  as  this  man  sat  over  the 
fire  with  some  of  his  companions,  discussing  the  subjects 
of  dispute,  he  drew  out  the  paper,  and  proposed  submit- 
ting it  to  the  flames,  as  a  test  of  the  truth  of  its  contents. 
They  consented,  and  thrusting  it  into  the  fire,  kept  it 
there  for  some  time,  and  then  drew  it  out  unscorched. 
Again  and  again  they  repeated  the  experiment,  and  always 
with  the  same  result.  And  a  second  time  what  do  we 
find  to  be  the  effect  on  the  witnesses  of  this  new  miracle  ? 
"  Then  the  heretics  were  filled  with  great  wonder,  and, 
instead  of  keeping  the  promise  they  had  made  of  believing 
the  truths  preached  by  the  Catholics,  agreed  to  keep  the 
prodigy  a  close  secret,  lest  it  should  reach  the  ears  of  the 
Catholics,  who  would  be  certain  to  claim  it  as  a  sign  of 
victory."f  One,  however,  more  noble-minded  than  the 
rest,  was  converted  by  what  he  saw,  and  published  it  to 
the  world,  and  from  his  testmony  it  was  inserted  by 
Peter  de  Vaulx  Cernay,  in  his  history  of  the  Albigenses. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  more  particulars  have  not 

*  Castiglio,  part  i.  cap.  viii.  t  Polidori,  cap.  vi. 

0 


18  LIFE   OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

been  preserved  of  those  memorable  conferences,  but  we 
arc  only  told  in  general  that  great  success  everywhere 
followed  the  footsteps  of  the  missionaries,  and  that  the 
r.umbers  of  the  Catholics  daily  increased,  which  reduced 
the  heretics  to  the  necessitybf  using  frauds  and  the  most 
incredible  ingenuity  to  preserve  their  ground  against  the 
power  of  their  adversaries 

It  will  be  observed  that  we  have  made  no  attempt  in 
these  pages  to  give  any  account  of  the  nature  of  that 
celebrated  heresy,  the  name  of  which  will  be  for  ever 
inseparably  united  with  that  of  S.  Dominic ;  neither  is  it 
our  intention  to  do  so.  An  ample  account  of  its  doc- 
trines may  be  gathered  from  so  many  works  within  the 
reach  of  the  Catholic  reader,  that  we  feel  it  is  wholly 
unnecessary  to  devote  any  space  here  to  the  task  of  un- 
veiling its  true  character.  Indeed,  whilst  alluding  to  its 
connection  with  this  period  of  S.  Dominic's  life,  we 
cannot  but  feel  that  this  connection  has  been  greatly 
overrated  by  many,  who  have  made  his  biography  little 
more  than  a  history  of  political  and  ecclesiastical  affairs, 
with  which  he  had  personally  but  little  to  do.  In  this 
way  his  own  personal  life  and  character  have  often  been 
lost  sight  of,  and  confused  with  the  troubles  of  the  times, 
and  the  portrait  of  the  Saint  has  been  hidden  by  the 
shadow  which  rests,  in  some  degree,  on  the  Count  de 
Montfort's  crusade.  With  all  this  we  have  nothing  to 
do;  nor  shall  we  allude  to  the  political  history  of  the 
time,  except  in  so  far  as  is  necessary  to  explain  and  illus- 
trate the  details  preserved  to  us  of  the  life  of  Dominic. 
There  is  little  doubt  that  the  Albigensian  heresy,  besides 
its  corruptions  of  the  faith  and  its  frightful  immorality, 
had  a  directly  political  character,  and  was  mixed  up  with 
a  spirit  of  revolution  and  sedition,  which  goes  far  to  ex 
plain  the  bitterness  of  those  civil  wars  of  which  it,  was  the 
immediate  cause;  and,  like  all  revolutionary  movements, 
it  had  a  disorganizing  effect  on  all  social  ties,  so  that  the 
south  of  France  was  plunged  by  it  into  a  state  of  civil 
anarchy,  which  was  doubtless  the  chief  reason  which 
moved  the  civil  arm  against  its  followers  with  such  pecu- 
liar severity.     One  of  the  consequences  of  these  political 


FOUNDATION    OP    THE    CONVENT    OF    PROUILLE.      19 

commotions  was  the  impoverishing  of  many  noble  families 
engaged  in  them,  and  this  often  led  to  their  concealing 
their  faith  through  the  pressure  of  necessity,  and  suffering 
their  children  to  be  educated  by  the  heretics,  who  eagerly 
made  use  of  the  worldly  temptations  which  were  in  their 
power  to  offer,  in  order  to  get  the  children  of  Catholics 
into  their  hands.  This  evil  was  very  soon  perceived  by 
the  quick  eye  of  Dominic,  and  so  deplorably  did  he  feel  the 
cruelty  which  exposed  these  souls  to  the  certain  ruin  of  their 
religious  principles,  that  he  determined  on  a  very  strenuous 
effort  to  oppose  it,  and  to  provide  some  means  for  the 
education  of  the  daughters  of  Catholics  in  the  true  faith. 
For  this  purpose  he  resolved  to  found  a  monastery, 
where,  within  the  protection  of  strict  enclosure,  and  under 
the  charge  of  a  few  holy  women  whom  he  gathered  to- 
gether out  of  the  suffering  provinces,  these  children  might 
be  nurtured  under  the  Church's  shadow.  The  spot  chosen 
for  the  purpose  was  Prouille,  a  name  illustrious  in  the 
Dominican  annals,  for  there,  unconsciously  probably  to 
its  founder,  rose  the  mother-house  of  an  institute  which 
was  to  cover  the  world.  It  was  a  small  village' near 
Montreal,  at  the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees ;  and  a  church  dedi- 
cated to  our  Lady,  under  the  familiar  title  of  Notre  Dame 
de  Prouille,  was  the  object  of  considerable  veneration 
among  the  people.  There,  with  the  warm  sanction  and 
co-operation  of  Fulk,  bishop  of  Toulouse,  Dominic  founded 
his  monastery.  The  church  we  have  spoken  of  was  granted 
to  the  new  foundation,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  plan  had  no 
sooner  been  proposed  than  every  one  saw  its  fitness  for  the 
necessities  of  the  times,  and  vied  one  with  another  in 
forwarding  and  contributing  to  it.  Peter  of  Castelnau, 
stretched  on  a  bed  of  sickness,  gave  thanks  to  God  with 
clasped  hands  for  what  he  deemed  so  signal  a  mercy. 
Bcrenger,  archbishop  of  Nar bonne,  immediately  granted  it 
considerable  lands  and  revenues ;  and  all  the  Catholic 
nobles,  with  the  Count  de  Montfort  at  their  head,  gave* 
their  prompt  and  liberal  aid  to  a  scheme  from  which  they  • 
themselves  were  sure  to  derive  su/ch  lasting  advantage. 

The  little  community  consisted  at  first  of  nine  mem- 
bers, all  of  them  converted  from  the  Albigensian  heresy 
c  2 


20  LIFE   OP   6,    DOMINIC. 

by  the  preaching  and  miracles  of  Dominic.  They  were 
joined  by  two  noble  ladies  of  Catholic  families,  one  of 
whom,  Guillemette  de  Fanjeaux,  though  the  last  to  re- 
ceive the  habit,  was  chosen  by  Dominic  as  their  Superior. 
She  continued  in  that  office  until  the  year  1225 ;  but  he 
himself  governed  the  monastry,  and  thenceforth  received 
the  title  of  Prior  of  Prouille,  residing  in  a  house  outside 
the  enclosure,  when  his  apostolic  labours  did  not  call  him 
elsewhere.  The  community  took  possession  of  their  new 
retreat  on  the  27th  of  December,  1206.  Their  habit  was 
white  with  a  tawny  mantle ;  of  the  rule  given  them  by 
their  founder  we  know  nothing,  save  that  it  bound  them, 
besides  attending  to  the  education  of  children,  to  devote 
certain  hours  to  manual  labour,  such  as  spinning.  Prouille, 
afterwards  associated  to  the  Order  of  Preachers,  became 
in  time  a  flourishing  monastry,  never  numbering  less 
than  a  hundred  religious ;  it  was  the  mother-house  of  no 
less  than  twelve  other  foundations,  and  reckoned  among 
its  prioresses  several  of  the  royal  house  of  Bourbon. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Diego  returns  to  Spain.  His  death.  Dominic  remains  in  Langue- 
doc  The  murder  of  Peter  de  Castelnau,  and  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Albigensian  war. 

Piego  of  Azevedo  saw  the  foundation  of  Prouille  before 
returning  to  his  diocese  of  Osma.  He  had  now  been  two 
years  in  the  French  provinces,  and  he  felt  it  was  time  to 
revisit  his  own  church  and  people.  He  left  the  country 
in  which  he  had  laboured  so  truly  and  nobly,  with  the 
promise  soon  to  return  with  fresh  labourers  in  the  cause ; 
^but  this  promise  was  destined  never  to  be  fulfilled.  His 
•  companions  attended  him  to  the  confines  of  the  province 
of  Toulouse,  all  journeying  on  foot  and  preaching  as 
they  went.  These  last  missionary  labours  of  Diego  were 
crowned  with  new  successes.     At  Montreal  500  heretics 


DEATH   OF  DIEGO.  21 

abjured  their  errors.     A  meeting  of  the  legates  and  chief 
Catholics  also  took  place  at  the  same  town,  and  another 
at  Pamiers,  when  the  increased  courage  and  strength  of 
the   Catholic  party  were  plainly  visible,  and  some  of  the 
principal  of  the  Albigenses  made  their  submission   with 
the  most  unequivocal  marks  of  sincerity.     After  this  last 
conference    Diego    turned  his  steps  towards    Spain,   and, 
still  travelling  on  foot,  reached  Osma,  having  been  absent 
from  his  diocese  exactly  three  years.      He  died  before  he 
could   carry   his   intention  of    returning   to    France   into 
execution;    and  thus   he   and   Domnic   never  met   again. 
He  was  the  first  of  a  long  line  of  great  men  with  whom 
the  founder  of  the  Friars  Preachers  was  united  in  bonds 
of  no  common  friendship,  nor  was  he  the  least  worthy  of 
the  number.     So  holy  and  stainless  was  the  life  he  led, 
that   even   the  heretics  were  wont  to  say  of  him   in  the 
words  of  blessed  Jordan,  that  "  it  was  impossible  not  to 
believe  such  a  man  predestined  to  eternal  life,  and  that 
doubtless  he  was  sent  among  them  to  be  taught  the  true 
doctrine."     It  was  his  influence  that  had  consolidated  the 
weak  and  scattered  elements  of  the  Catholic  party  into  a 
firm  and  united  body,  and  his  loss  was  felt  by  all  to  be 
that  of  a  father  and  chief.     Nay,  it  seemed  as  if  his  death 
dissolved   in  a   moment   the   tie   which  had  bound  them 
together.      They   were   again  scattered,  each  in   different 
directions,  and  a  few  weeks  after  the  news  of  his  friend's 
death  reached  the  ears  of  Dominic,  he  found  himself  alone. 
We   cannot   guess,   or   rather  we  can  but  guess,  what 
kind  of  solitude  that  was  when  the  work  remained  to  do, 
but  the  fellow-labourers,  and  he  among  them  whose  com- 
pany had  been  a  brotherhood  «f  fourteen  years,  were  gone. 
Yet  Dominic  was  equal  to  the  shock  of  that  great  lone- 
liness :  he  saw  one  after  another  of  the  missioners  depart, 
the  Spanish  ecclesiastics  to  Spain,  the  Cistercians  back  to 
their  abbey,   but  he  remained  firm   and  tranquil  at  the 
post  where  God  had  placed  him.     The  sweetness  of  human, 
consolation  had  left  it,  but  the  will  of  God  was  clear  as* 
ever,  and  that  was  the  law  of  his  life ;  and  if  hitherto  he  ' 
had  been  displayed  to  the  world  as  following  rather  in 
another's   track,    than   as   himself  the  originator  of    the 


22  LIFE   OP   S.    DOMINIC. 

enterprise  in  which  be  was  engaged,  it  was  for  the  test  of 
a  crisis  like  this  to  show  him  to  the  world  in  his  true 
light.  We  have  mentioned  Fulk,  bishop  of  Toulouse,  as 
co-operating  in  the  foundation  of  the  convent  of  Prouille. 
His  presence  and  influence  in  some  degree  supplied  the 
loss  which  the  Catholics  had  sustained  by  the  death  of 
Diego.  Until  his  elevation  to  the  episcopate,  one  of  the 
greatest  drawbacks  to  the  Catholic  cause  had  been  the 
coldness  and  indifference  of  their  own  bishops;  but  the 
vigorous  example  of  the  new  prelate  roused  many  of  his 
colleagues  from  their  negligence,  and  infused  new  life  into 
the  ecclesiastical  administration  of  the  diocese.  He  was 
indeed  in  every  way  a  remarkable  man,  one  in  whom  the 
energy  of  human  passion  had  been,  not  laid  aside,  but 
transformed  and  sanctified  by  the  influence  of  grace. 
Not  many  years  before,  he  had  been  known  to  the  world 
only  as  a  brilliant  courtier,  a  successful  cultivator  of  the 
"gaie  science,"  the  very  embodiment  of  the  Provengal 
character.  The  world  spoiled  him  for  a  time,  and  then 
deserted  him ;  or  we  might  rather  say  that  God  haL  de- 
termined to  draw  to  Himself  a  soul  too  noble  for  the 
world's  spoiling.  Deaths  came  one  after  another  to  strip 
his  life  of  everthing  that  made  it  desirable ;  then  there 
followed  that  period  of  bitter  conflict  and  agony  which 
precedes  the  putting  off  of  the  old  nature ;  and  when  it 
was  over,  Provence  had  lost  her  gayest  troubadour,  and 
Fulk  was  a  monk  in  the  abbey  of  Citeaux.  In  1206  he 
was  raised  to  the  bishopric  of  Toulouse,  and  in  that  capa- 
city his  energy  and  enthusiasm  of  character  was  of  special 
service  in  animating  the  chilled  and  timorous  spirit  of  his 
colleagues.  Towards  Dominic  and  his  companions  he  was 
ever  a  liberal  benefactor. 

And  indeed  there  was  need  of  some  support  in  the 
position  in  which  the  departure  and  death  of  Diego  bid 
left  his  friend.  He  was  not  only  alone,  but  alone  just  as 
.the  difficulties  of  the  cause  to  which  he  was  bound  were 
about  to  be  increased  tenfold  by  the  horrors  of  civil  war. 
This  conflict,  associated  as  it  was  with  the  religious 
contest  in  which  he  was  engaged,  could  scarcely  fail  to 
entangle   him  in  something  of  its  confusion:   so  at  least 


DOMINIO  AT   NARBONNE.  23 

it  would  Jseem,  if  we  remember  that  the  war  was  that 
crusade  against  the  Albigenses,  which  history  has  per- 
sisted in  linking  with  the  name  of  Dominic.  The  reader 
of  his  life  who  comes  full  of  this  prepossession,  will  turn  to 
the  chapter  of  the  Albigensian  crusade  with  the  natural 
expectation  of  finding  there  the  most  striking  details  of 
the  man  he  has  been  accustomed  to  think  of  as  its  hero. 
Whereas  it  is  literally  true  that  it  is  just  during  the  ten 
years  of  the  Albigensian  war  that  we  find  least  record  of 
Dominic's  life,  so  far  as  the  world  knew  it.  He  had  a  life, 
and  a  work,  but  one  so  wholly  distinct  from  the  conflict 
that  was  raging  around  him,  that  it  has  hidden  him  from 
sight.  Here  and  there  we  find  a  trace  of  him,  but  in  no 
case  are  those  scattered  notices  connected  with  any  of 
the  warlike  or  political  movements  of  the  times.  They 
are  the  anecdotes  of  an  apostolic  life,  whose  course  has 
been  thus  briefly  sketched  by  Blessed  Humbert  in  a  few 
lines :  "  After  the  return  of  the  bishop  Diego  to  his  dio- 
cese," he  says,  "  S.  Dominic,  left  almost  alone  with  a  few 
companions  who  were  bound  to  him  by  no  vow,  during 
ten  years  upheld  the  Catholic  faith  in  different  parts  of  the 
province  of  Narbonne,  particularly  at  Carcassona  and  at 
Fanjeaux.  He  devoted  himself  entirely  to  the  salvation 
of  souls  by  the  ministry  of  preaching,  and  he  bore  with  a 
great  heart  a  multitude  of  affronts,  ignominies,  and  suf- 
ferings for  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ."  And  this  is  all. 
The  few  details  preserved  of  these  ten  years  of  suffering 
and  silent  work  will  disappoiut  any  who  look  for  stirring 
pictures  of  the  crusade.  Some  trait  of  humility  and 
patience  exhibited  amid  the  insults  of  his  enemies, — or, 
it  may  be,  a  few  words  redolent  with  the  spirit  of  prayer 
and  trust  in  God,  which  have  come  down  in  the  tradition 
of  ages,  or  the  record  of  miracles,  worked,  like  those  of 
the  Master  whose  steps  he  followed,  as  he  went  up  and 
down  the  hills  of  Narbonne,  and  among  the  towns  and 
villages,  preaching  the  faith,  and  seeking*  for  the  sheep 
that  were  lost, — this  is  all  we  find.  There  is  an  evan- 
gelical sweetness  of  simplicity  about  these  broken  notices 
of  his  life,  which,  coming  in  the  midst  of  the  troubled  and 
bloody  history  of  the  period,  sounds  like  the  rich  notes  of 


24  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

a  thrush's  song  falling  on  the  ear  between  the  intervals 
of  a  thunder-storm, — lost  every  now  and  then,  and  hushed 
by  the  angry  roll  of  the  elements,  then  sounding  sweetly 
again  in  the  stillness  when  the  storm  is  over.  We  shall 
give  them  as  we  find  them,  in  their  proper  place,  but  it  is 
necessary  first  of  all  to  notice  very  briefly  some  of  those 
events  which  followed  on  the  departure  of  Diego  of  Azevedo, 
and  which  plunged  the  southern  provinces  of  France  into 
the  bloody  contest  of  which  we  have  spoken. 

It  will  be  remembered,  that  among  the  legates  and 
missioners  whom  Dominic  and  Diego  met.  at  Montpellier, 
on  their  first  entrance  on  the  mission,  mention  was  made 
of  Peter  de  Castelnau,  against  whom  the  hatred  of  the 
heretics  had  been  so  strongly  evinced,  that  he  had  been 
persuaded  for  some  time  to  withdraw  from  the  enterprise. 
Something  of  severity  and  harshness  in  his  character  may 
probably  account  for  the  peculiar  vindictiveness  of  which 
he  was  the  object.  He  had  often  been  used  to  say,  that 
religion  would  never  raise  its  head  in  Languedoc  till  the 
soil  had  been  watered  with  the  blood  of  a  martyr ;  and 
his  constant  prayer  was,  that  he  himself  might  be  the 
victim.  It  was  even  as  he  desired.  Count  Raymond  of 
Toulouse,  the  sovereign  of  the  distracted  provinces,  had 
been  the  constant  but  not  always  the  avowed  protector 
of  the  Albigenses  during  the  whole  period  of  his  govern- 
ment. Again  and  agai*,  in  reply  to  the  pressing  en- 
treaties of  the  Holy  See,  he  had  promised  to  use  his 
authority  to  suppress  their  disorders,  and  to  defend  the 
property  and  liberty  of  the  Catholics  ;  and  again  and 
again,  when  the  dread  of  excommunication  was  with- 
drawn, he  had  failed  to  fulfil  his  engagements.  It  is 
no  part  of  history  to  asperse  its  characters  with  epithets 
of  reproach.  Count  Raymond  has  been  the  hero  of  one 
party,  and  the  object  of  unlimited  abuse  from  the  other ; 
but  we  may  well  content  ourselves  with  such  conclusions 
as  may  be  drawn  from  facts  which  none  have  attempted 
to  dispute.  He  had  bound  himself  by  solemn  oaths  to 
suppress  those  violent  disorders,  the  frightful  increase  of 
which  had  opened  the  eyes  of  his  predecessor,  and  forced 
from    him    the    unwilling    acknowledgment,    that    "  the 


MURDER   OP   PETER  DE   CASTELNAU.  25 

spiritual  sword  was  no  longer  enough;  the  material 
sword  was  needed  also."  These  oaths  were  made,  and 
as  often  violated ;  after  incessant  remonstrances,  Peter 
de  Castelnau,  in  his  office  of  Papal  legate,  pronounced 
the  final  sentence  of  excommunication  against  him.  The 
result  was  an  earnest  entreaty  from  the  count  to  meet 
him  at  Saint  Gilles,  in  order  that  by  fresh  submissions 
he  might  be  once  more  reconciled  to  the  Church.  His 
request  was  agreed  to,  but  it  seemed  impossible  for 
Raymond  to  act  with  good  faith.  No  sooner  were  the 
legates  in  his  power,  than  he  changed  his  tone  of  sub- 
mission, and  naughtily  threatened  them  with  imprison- 
ment if  they  did  not  grant  him  the  unconditional  repeal 
of  his  sentence.  Such  threats  were  lightly  felt  by  men 
who  counted  their  lives  as  nothing  in  the  cause  in  which 
they  were  engaged,  and  they  answered  him  only  with  a 
stern  reproof.  Next  day,  as  they  stood  by  the  rapid 
waters  of  the  Rhone,  on  the  banks  of  which  they  had  passed 
the  night,  and  which  they  were  preparing  to  cross,  two 
members  of  the  count's  household  came  up  in  pursuit  of 
them,  and  one  plunged  his  lance  into  the  body  of  Peter 
de  Castelnau.  It  was  the  death  for  which  he  had  so 
often  longed;  he  fell  without  a  struggle,  and  summoned 
his  departing  strength  to  utter  words  worthy  of  a 
martyr.  "May  God  pardon  you,"  he  said  to  his  mur- 
derer; "as  for  me,  I  forgive  you, — I  forgive  you;"  then 
turning  to  his  companion,  "Keep  the  faith,"  he  said, 
"  and  serve  God's  Church  without  fear,  and  without 
negligence;"  and,  with  these  words  upon  his  lips,  he 
died. 

When  the  news  of  this  murder  reached  the  ears  of 
the  Pope  and  the  Catholic  potentates  of  Europe,  there 
seemed  a  unanimous  feeling  that  all  time  for  further 
treating  with  the  heretics  was  at  an  end.  Let  us  re- 
member, that  the  south  of  France  had  now  been  at  their 
mercy  for  more  than  a  century ;  that  during  that  time 
these  atrocious  wretches,  whom  Protestants  are  not 
ashamed  to  boast  of  as  their  ancestors  in  the  faith, 
had  ravaged  the  country  like  bandits,  setting  fire  to 
churches,    torturing    priests    and   nuns,    trampling   under 


26  LIFE   OP   S.   DOMINIC. 

foot  the  holy  Eucharist,  and  committing  every  violence 
most  shocking  to  human  feeling;  and  that  during  this 
century  of  crime  the  Church  had  opposed  only  her 
censures  and  her  entreaties,  sending  among  them  mis- 
sionaries and  preachers,  but  never  unloosing  the  temporal 
sword.  Nay,  she  had  even  interposed  with  peaceful 
measures  when  the  civil  arm  was  at  length  raised 
against  them.  Raymond  of  Toulouse,  the  predecessor 
of  the  present  count,  and  himself  a  favourer  of  the 
heretics,  had  at  length  become  aware  of  the  danger 
threatened  to  his  own  government,  and  to  the  very 
existence  of  all  law,  by  their  continued  excesses.  Too 
late  he  strove  to  check  the  evil  he  had  fostered,  but 
he  found  the  task  was  far  beyond  his  strength.  In  his 
terror  he  wrote  to  the  French  king  a  memorable  letter, 
which,  as  coming  from  his  pen,  may  fairly  be  received  as 
impartial  testimony,  "Our  churches,"  he  says,  "are  in 
ruins,  penance  is  despised,  the  Holy  Eucharist  is  held  in 
abomination,  all  the  sacraments  are  rejected — yet  no  one 
thinks  of  offering  any  resistance  to  these  wretches."  He 
then  makes  an  earnest  appeal  to  the  king  for  assistance, 
and  would  have  obtained  it  had  not  the  reigning  Pontiff, 
Alexander  III.,  interfered,  and  proposed  once  more  to 
try  the  effect  of  an  ecclesiastical  mission  before  harsher 
measures  were  adopted. 

But  however  well  fitted  a  legation  of  monks  and 
preachers  might  be  for  the  suppression  of  theological 
errors,  it  scarcely  had  the  strength  necessary  for  deliver- 
ing Languedoc  from  its  swarms  of  bandits.  The  sufferings 
of  the  country  were  not  simply  doctrinal :  Stephen,  abbot 
of  S.  Genevieve,  sent  to  Toulouse  by  the  king,  and  an 
eye-witness  of  what  he  describes,  gives  us  a  picture  of 
the  state  of  things  in  his  time  in  a  few  words  which 
occur  in  one  of  his  letters:  "I  have  seen,"  he  says, 
"churches  burnt  and  ruined  to  their  foundations;  I  have 
seen  the  dwellings  of  men  changed  into  the  dens  of 
beasts."  Is  it  any  wonder,  therefore,  that  after  these 
terrible  disorders  had  been  endured  for  more  than  a 
century,  and  opposed  only  by  the  weapons  of  eccle- 
siastical censures,  the  murder  in  cold  blood  of  the  Papal 


PROCLAMATION  OF  THE  CRUSADE.        27 

legate  by  the  avowed  leader  of  the  Albigenses  seemed 
to  fill  the  measure  of  their  iniquity?  War  at  once 
burst  out  ;  and  surely  if  ever  war  is  just,  it  must  be 
deemed  so  when  waged  to  defend  society  from  outrage, 
and  the  faith  from  ruin.  This  at  least  we  may  affirm 
without  in  any  way  binding  ourselves  to  vindicate  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  carried  on,  when  men's  passions 
and  personal  interests  were  once  irretrievably  engaged ; 
but  we  cannot  think  that  the  act  which  proclaimed  the 
crusade  against  the  Albigenses,  after  a  century  of  for- 
bearance, can  be  condemned  by  any  who  will  patiently 
go  over  that  century's  most  melancholy  history. 


— ooo — 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Proclamation  of  the  Crusade.     Simon  de  Montfort.     Dominic 
among  the  heretics.    His  apostolic  labours 

The  death  of  De  Castelnau  took  place  in  the  February 
of  the  year  1208.  Early  in  the  following  month  Pope 
Innocent  addressed  letters  to  the  kings  of  Prance  and 
England,  and  to  the  sovereign  nobles  of  Prance,  calling 
on  them  to  lay  aside  their  private  quarrels,  and  join 
in  an  unanimous  effort  against  "  the  rage  of  heresy." 
The  crime  of  the  Count  of  Toulouse  was  declared  to  be 
one  which  freed  his  subjects  from  their  allegiance  until 
such  time  as  he  would  return  to  his  own  allegiance  to  the 
Church;  and  a  new  commission  of  bishops  and  abbots 
was  appointed  to  preach  the  crusade,  and  undertake  the 
ecclesiastical  government  of  the  country.  In  this  commis- 
sion Dominic's  name  does  not  occur ;  Arnold  of  Citeaux 
is  the  man  charged  with  the  chief  burden  of  the  whole 
undertaking,  and  his  fiery  and  inflexible  temper  caused 
him  to  fulfil  his  charge  with  an  unrelenting  severity, 
which  can  never  be  excused.  If  indeed  we  had  to  make 
any  religious  body  responsible  for  the  severites  of  the 
crusade,  it  certainly  seems  as  though  the  Cistercians  had 


28  LIFE    OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

done  more  to  merit  such  a  reproach  than  any  other.  We 
find  their  leader,  Arnold,  eagerly  and  zealously  engaged 
in  all  the  movements  of  the  Catholic  chiefs,  often  accom- 
panying them  to  the  field  and  rousing  the  country  to 
arms  with  the  energy  of  his  preaching.  Every  represen- 
tation of  the  progress  of  the  war  which  reached  the  Pope 
came  through  him  and  his  followers;  and  these  repre- 
sentations seem,  in  more  instances  than  one,  to  have  been 
coloured  by  partiality,  and  to  have  misled  the  Pontiff 
whom  they  were  intended  to  direct.  For  more  than  a 
year  after  the  war  first  broke  out,  Arnold  was  the  only 
acknowledged  leader  and  director  of  the  Catholic  forces ; 
and  the  unfortunate  plan  of  setting  the  two  houses  of 
Montfort  and  Toulouse  in  rivalry  one  against  the  other, 
as  the  means  of  destroying  the  latter  by  the  vindictive- 
ness  of  a  personal  quarrel,  was  the  invention  of  his  own 
scheming  brain. 

Yet  this  man,  who  really  played  so  conspicuous  a  part 
in  the  history  of  his  time,  and  who  stands  bound  to  every 
detail  in  those  proceedings  of  which  he  was  the  animating 
spirit,  is  almost  forgotten  by  Protestant  historians  and 
their  readers,  so  eager  are  they  to  heap  terms  of  reproach 
on  one  who  had  little  or  no  share  in  them.  Doubtless  in 
their  own  day,  Dominic  Gusman  was  a  very  insignificant 
person  compared  to  the  legate,  Arnold  of  Citeaux;  but 
the  Church,  in  her  unerring  justice,  has  raised  one  to  her 
altars,  and  left  the  other  to  the  mercy  and  indifference  of 
future  ages ;  and  this  explains  what  would  otherwise 
be  an  unaccountable  phenomenon.  Arnold  of  Citeaux, 
though  a  busy  man  in  his  time,  is  in  no  way  a  represen- 
tative of  the  Catholic  Church;  she  has  not  identified 
herself  with  him,  and  so  there  is  no  good  reason  for 
attacking  him  and  his  order,  and  holding  up  their  names 
for  popular  abuse,  however  deeply  they  were  responsible 
for  the  excesses  of  the  crusade.  But  it  is  quite  another 
thing  to  vilify  a  Catholic  saint.  Dominic  bears  on  his 
brow  the  indelible  seal  of  the  Church's  canonization,  and 
therefore  no  Protestant  can  touch  on  the  history  of  the 
Albigensian  war  without  assuring  us  that  it  was  "preached 
by  the   infamous  Dominic,"  with  a  thousand  other  like 


SIMON   DE   MONTFORT.  29 

expressions  which  would  give  us  to  understand  that  he 
was  the  foremost  character  in  the  whole  affair,  but  which 
are  simply  inexplicable  to  any  one  who,  in  studying  his 
life,  fiuds  it  his  chief  difficulty  to  come  on  any  trace 
of  him  during  this  period. 

It  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  perpetual  insinceri- 
ties of  the  Count  of  Toulouse  render  it  difficult  to  follow, 
with  anything  like  clearness,  a  history  which  shows  him 
to  us  submitting  to  public  penance  in  the  church  of 
S.  Gilles  in  1209,  and  swearing  at  the  same  time,  on  holy 
relics  and  the  very  body  of  our  Lord,  to  drive  away  the 
heretic  insurgents,  to  repair  the  churches,  and  replace  the 
lawful  bishops  in  their  sees ;  then  a  year  afterwards, 
evading  the^  demands  of  the  council ,  held  at  the  same 
place,  which  called  on  him  to  fulfil  his  engagements,  and 
persisting  in  his  refusal,  even  whilst  he  supplicates  to  be 
heard  in  justification  of  the  accusations  brought  against 
him.  A  little  while  after,  we  find  him  at  Toulouse,  pre- 
paring to  take  up  arms  against  the  Catholic  forces  whom 
he  had  sworn  to  assist ;  and,  in  return  for  this  breach  of 
faith,  we  have  a  touching  and  affectionate  letter  from 
Pope  Innocent,  calling  on  him  once  more  to  stand  to  his 
plighted  word.  Then  more  conferences  and  more  eva- 
sions. In  1211,  at  a  meeting  held  at  Montpellier,  he 
seems  about  to  yield,  but  suddenly  leaves  the  city  with- 
out a  word  of  explanation.  Then  at  length  the  thunder 
of  excommunication  falls  on  his  head  a  second  time ;  and 
the  war  begins  in  earnest. 

Raymond  had  the  powerful  protection  of  his  brother- 
in-law,  the  king  of  Arragon,  together  with  many  of  the 
territorial  lords  of  the  south.  The  power  of  the  crusaders 
under  the  leadership  of  Count  Simon  de  Montfort  was 
certainly  in  no  overwhelming  disproportion,  and,  we  are 
told,  more  than  a  thousand  cities  and  towns  were  in  the 
hands  of  the  heretics.  Two  of  these  towns,  Beziers  and 
Carcassona,  had  yielded  to  the  Catholic  confederates, 
after  a  bloody  contest  at  the  very  commencement  of  the 
war,  and  before  the  final  rupture  with  Raymond.  The 
cruelties  practised  on  the  inhabitants  of  the  former,  and 
the  pillage  of  the  latter,  gave  a  vindictive  character  to  the 


30  LIFE    OP   S.   DOMINIC. 

very  .opening  of  the  campaign.  For  the  enormities  per- 
petrated by  the  heretics  had  lashed  the  Catholics  of 
Lauguedoc  to  fury;  and  when  the  day  of  retribution 
came,  and  vengeance  was  in  the  power  of  men  who  had 
so  long  suffered  the  worst  injuries  without  redress,  it 
broke  out  into  the  usual  excesses.  There  is  no  tempta- 
tion to  justify  such  excesses,  yet  surely  there  is  an 
astonishing  unfairness,  may  we  not  say  an  astonishing 
hypocrisy,  in  those  who  can  find  no  words  to  express  their 
horror  at  the  slaughter  of  Beziers,  yet  forget  the  tortures 
of  helpless  women,  the  profanation  of  holy  things,  the 
murders  and  oppressions  of  the  century  which  had  passed, 
the  reollection  of  which  was  doubtless  too  terribly  alive 
in  the  minds  of  the  crusaders  for  them  to  find  such  mercy 
in  their  hearts  for  those  who  were  in  turn  their  victims. 

Where  was  Dominic  all  this  time  ?  Some  of  his  his- 
torians gave  the  year  1207  as  the  date  of  the  foundation 
of  his  order ;  inasmuch  as  it  wae  then  that  he  took  the 
command  of  that  little  company  of  missionaries  who  re- 
mained with  him  after  the  departure  of  Diego.  But  they 
were  bound  to  him  by  no  other  tie  than  a  common  in- 
terest ;  and  the  only  ground  for  the  supposition  seems  to 
be,  that  they  lived  together  in  a  kind  of  community-life, 
and  were  known  by  the  name  of  the  Preaching  Brothers. 
It  does  not,  however,  seem  that  they  had  anything  of  the 
formation  of  a  regular  religious  body,  and  probably  no 
plan  for  such  a  formation  had  yet  been  clearly  developed 
in  Dominic's  own  mind.  Of  their  manner  of  life  we  can 
form  some  notion  from  those  scattered  anecdotes  which 
are  all  that  are  left  us.  Even  amid  the  hottest  period  of 
the  war,  it  was  the  same  as  it  had  ever  been ;  they  went 
about  barefoot  from  village  to  village  preaching  the  faith. 
The  only  commission  which  Dominic  held,  was  the  origi- 
nal one  he  possessed  in  virtue  of  that  first  legation  to 
which  he  and  Diego  had  been  associated  before  the  cru- 
sade began.  It  gave  him  the  power  of  reconciling  heretics, 
and  receiving  them  to  penance,  an  office  which  has  ac- 
quired him  the  title  of  the  first  Inquisitor.  If  by  this  is 
meant  that  the  office  of  the  Inquisition,  as  afterwards 
constituted,   was   established   at   this  tim,e   such  title  is 


DOMINIC    AMONG   THE   HERETICS.  31 

certainly  an  error ;  no  such  office  existed  before  the  Lateran 
■Council  of  1215,  and  it  was  not  until  1230,  nine  years 
after  the  death  of  Dominic,  that  the  Council  of  Toulouse 
gave  it  a  new  form,  and  intrusted  a  large  share  of  its 
government  to  the  recently  instituted  order  of  Friars 
Preachers.  It  is  singular  also,  that  the  first  commission 
for  denouncing  heretics  to  the  civil  magistrate  was  granted 
to  the  Cistercians.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  commission  of  reconciling  heretics,  held  by 
S.  Dominic,  was  the  germ  from  which  the  Inquisition 
afterwards  sprang ;  and  so  Dominic  may  be  called  the  first 
Inquisitor,  in  the  same  sense  as  the  Marquis  of  Worcester 
is  called  the  inventor  of  the  steam-engine,  or  Roger  Bacon 
the  discoverer  of  gunpowder ;  without  supposing  that  the 
marvels  of  a  cotton-mill,  or  the  broadside  of  a  three-decker, 
ever  crossed  the  imagination  of  either.* 

His  chief  residence  was  at  Fanjeaux  and  Carcassona. 
Fanjeaux  he  chose  for  its  proximity  to  Notre  Dame  de 
Prouille,  and  Carcassona  for  another  reason.  "  Why  do 
you  not  live  in  Toulouse,  or  the  diocese?"  was  a  question 
one  day  asked  him.  "  I  know  many  people  in  Toulouse," 
he  replied,  "  and  they  show  me  respect ;  but  at  Carcassona, 
every  one  is  against  me."      They  certainly  were:    it  was 

*  It  is  no  part  of  the  plan  which  we  have  laid  down  for  ourselves, 
to  enter  at  any  length  into  the  vexed  question  of  the  character  or 
the  Inquisition.  But  we  cannot  resist  referring  to  one  authority, 
quoted  by  Pere  Lacordaire,  in  his  well-known  "  Memorial  to  the 
French  People,"  whose  partiality  can  scarcely  be  questioned.  It  is 
from  the  Keport  presented  to  the  Cortes,  on  the  character  of  that 
tribunal,  which  was  followed  by  its  suppression,  and  bears  the  date 
of  1 81 2.  Considering  thatit  proceeded  from  the  party  most  violently 
opposed  to  the  Inquisition,  and  whose  political  successors,  the  Pro- 
gressistas  of  Spain, have  succeeded  in  abolishing  all  religious  orders 
in  that  country,  its  testimony  is  of  peculiar  value.  "  The  early 
Inquisitors,"  they  say,  "  encountered  heresy  with  no  other  arms 
than  those  of  prayer,  patience,  and  instruction ;  and  this  remark 
applies  more  particularly  to  S.  Dominic,  as  we  are  assured  by  the 
Bollandists,  with  Echard  and  Touron.  Philip  II.  was  the  real 
"founder  of  the  Inquisition."  For  a  minute  and  careful  account  of 
the  change  introduced  into  the  character  of  the  tribunal  by  the 
royal  influence,  we  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  celebrated  work 
of  Baimez,  on  "  Protestantism  and  Catholicity  compared  in  their 
Effects  on  the  civilization  of  Europe.'* 


32  LIFE   OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

their  diversion  to  treat  the  humble  barefooted  friar  who 
was  to  be  seen  about  their  streets  as  a  fool;  rather  let  us 
say,  they  gave  the  truest  testimony  to  his  likeness  to  his 
Lord  by  the  likeness  of  their  treatment  of  him.  They 
were  wont  to  follow  him,  throwing  dirt  at  him  and  spit- 
ting in  his  face;  tying  straws  to  his  cloak  and  hat,  and 
pursuing  him  with  shouts  of  derisive  laughter.  He  never 
seemed  to  heed  them,  or  to  let  the  singular  quietude  of 
his  soul  be  once  disturbed  by  these  affronts.  Sometimes 
their  insults  were  accompanied  with  blasphemous  oaths 
and  threats  of  death :  "I  am'  not  worthy  of  martyrdom," 
was  the  only  answer  they  were  able  to  draw  from  him. 
He  was  warned  once  of  a  party  of  heretics  who  lay  in 
ambush  in  a  certain  place  to  assassinate  him.  He  treated 
the  information  with  his  usual  indifference,  and  passed 
by  the  place  singing  hymns  with  a  joyful  aspect.  The 
heretics,  who  were  probably  not  prepared  for  the  actual 
execution  of  their  threat,  accosted  him  on  their  next 
meeting  in  their  usual  style.  "  And  so  thou  dost  not 
fear  death?  tell  us,  what  wouldst  thou  have  done  if  thou 
hadst  fallen  into  our  hands?"  Then  the  great  and  cou- 
rageous spirit  of  Dominic  spoke  in  a  memorable  reply: 
"  I  would  have  prayed  you,"  he  said,  "not  to  have  taken 
my  life  at  a  single  blow,  but  little  by  little,  cutting  off 
each  member  of  my  body,  one  by  one ;  and  when  you  had 
done  that,  you  should  have  plucked  out  my  eyes,  and  then 
have  left  me  so,  to  prolong  my  torments,  and  gain  me  a 
richer  crown."  It  is  said  that  this  reply  so  confounded 
his  enemies,  that  for  some  time  afterwards  they  left  him 
unmolested,  being  convinced  that  to  persecute  such  a  man 
was  to  give  him  the  only  consolation  he  desired.  The 
place  of  the  intended  attempt  on  his  life  is  still  shown, 
half-way  between  Prouille  and  Fanjeaux,  and  its  name 
"  Al  Sicari,"  in  the  dialect  of  the  country,  commemorates 
the  event. 

On  another  occasion  a  great  conference  was  appointed 
to  be  held  with  the  heretics,  at  whieh  one  of  the  neigh- 
bouring bishops  (who,  some  writers  tell  us,  was  Fulk  of 
Toulouse)  was  to  attend.  He  came  in  great  pomp,  to  the 
great  displeasure  of  Dominie.      "  Then  the  humble  herald 


DOMINIC   AMONG   THE   HERETICS.  33 

of  God  spoke  to  him,  and  said,  '  My  father,  it  is  not  thus 
that  we  must  act  against  this  generation  of  pride.  The 
enemies  of  the  truth  must  rather  be  convinced  by  the 
example  of  humility  and  patience,  than  by  the  pomp  and 
grandeur  of  worldly  show.  Let  us  arm  ourselves  with 
prayer  and  humility,  and  so  let  us  go  barefooted  against 
these  Goliaths.'  "  *The  bishop  complied  with  his  wishes, 
and  they  all  took  off  their  shoes,  and  went  to  meet  the 
heretics  singing  psalms  upon  the  way.  Now,  as  they  were 
not  sure  of  their  road,  they  applied  to  a  man  whom  they 
met  and  believed  to  be  a  Catholic,  but  who  was  in  truth  a 
concealed  and  bitter  heretic;  and  who  offered  to  be  their 
guide  to  the  place  of  meeting,  with  no  other  design  than 
that  of  embarrassing  and  annoying  them.  He  led  them, 
therefore,  through  a  thorny  wood,  where  the  rough  stones 
and  briers  tore  their  naked  feet,  and  caused  them  to  dye 
the  ground  with  their  blood.  The  bishop  and  his  suite  were 
a  little  disconcerted  at  this,  but  Dominic  encouraged  them 
to  persevere.  Joyous  and  patient  as  ever,  he  exhorted 
his  comrades  to  give  thanks  for  their  sufferings,  saying, 
"  Trust  in  God,  my  beloved ;  the  victory  is  surely  ours, 
since  our  sins  are  expiated  in  blood ;  '  is  it  not  written, 
'  How  beautiful  are  the  feet  of  them  who  bring  the  gospel 
of  peace?'  "  Then  he  intoned  a  joyful  hymn,  and  the 
hearts  of  his  companions  took  courage,  and  they  also  sang 
with  him  ;  and  the  heretic,  when  he  witnessed  the  patience 
and  courage  of  the  saint,  was  touched  to  the  heart,  and, 
falling  at  his  feet,  confessed  his  malice,  and  abjured  his 
heresy. 

As  we  have  said,  these  anecdotes  of  Dominic's  apostolic 
life  in  Languedoc  can  hardly  be  given  in  successive  order 
as  they  occurred ;  the  most  ancient  writers  tell  us  only  in 
general  terms,  that  during  this  time  he  suffered  many 
affronts  from  his  enemies,  and  overcame  their  wiles  by 
his  patience,  giving  these  disconnected  stories  without 
anything  to  guide  us  as  to  the  particular  times  when 
they  happened.  One  anecdote,  however,  in  which  the 
miraculous  powers  of  the  saint  are  first  exhibited  to  us, 
is  given  with  greater  exactness.  It  was  in  1211,  whilst 
*  Theodoric  of  Apoldia. 
D 


34  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

the  crusaders  were  under  the  walls  of  Toulouse,  and  just 
after  open  hostilities  had  for  the  first  time  broken  out 
with  Count  Raymond,  that  the  course  of  Dominic's 
apostolic  wanderings  led  him  to  the  bank  of  the  river 
Garrone.  Whilst  he  was  there,  a  band  of  English  pil- 
grims also  arrived  in  the  neighbourhood.  They  were 
about  forty  in  number,  bound  to  the  shrine  of  S.  James 
of  Compostella.  In  order  to  avoid  the  town,  which  lay 
under  the  Papal  interdict,  they  took  a  boat  to  cross  the 
river ;  but  the  boat,  being  small  and  overladen,  was  upset, 
and  all  those  who  were  in  it  sank  to  the  bottom.  Dominic 
was  praying  in  a  small  church  which  stood  near  the  scene 
of  the  accident,  but  the  cries  of  the  sufferers  and  some  of 
the  soldiers  who  saw  their  danger  roused  him  from  his 
devotions.  He  came  to  the  river's  bank,  but  not  one 
of  the  pilgrims  was  to  be  seen.  Then  he  prostrated  him- 
self on  the  earth  in  silent  prayer,  and,  rising  full  of  a 
lively  faith,  "  I  command  you,"  he  cried,  "  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ,  to  come  to  the  shore  alive  and  unhurt." 
Instantly  the  bodies  rose  to  the  surface,  and  with  the  help 
of  the  soldiers,  who  flung  them  their  shields  and  lances, 
they  all  safely  reached  the  bank,  praising  God  and  his 
servant  Dominic. 

Several  other  miracles  are  related  as  having  happened 
at  this  period,  they  are  the  only  footprints  left  us  of  his 
apostolic  journeys  over  Languedoc.  At  one  time  we  hear 
of  him  dropping  his  books  into  the  river  Ariege  as  he 
forded  it  on  foot,  and  after  three  days  they  are  recovered 
by  a  fisherman,  and  found  perfectly  dry  and  uninjured. 
At  another  time  he  is  crossing  the  same  river  in  a  little 
boat,  and  being  landed  on  the  opposite  shore,  finds  he  has 
no  money  to  pay  the  boatman.  The  boatman  insisted  on 
his  fare:  "I  am,"  said  Dominic,  "  a  follower  of  Jesus 
Christ ;  I  carry  neither  gold  nor  silver ;  God  will  pay  you 
the  price  of  my  passage."  But  the  boatman,  being  angry, 
laid  hold  of  his  cloak,  saying,  "  You  will  either  leave  your 
cloak  with  me,  or  pay  me  my  money."  Dominic,  raising 
his  eyes  to  heaven,  entered  for  a  moment  into  prayer; 
then,  looking  on  the  ground,  he  showed  the  man  a  piece 
of  silver  which  lay  there,  which  Providence  had  sent,  and 


HIS   APOSTOLIC   LABOURS.  35 

said  to  him,  "  My  brother,  there  is  what  you  ask,  take  it, 
and  suffer  me  to  go  my  way." 

Cardinal  Ranieri  Capocci,  who  lived  during  the  time  of 
S.  Dominic,  in  a  sermon  preached  shortly  after  his  canon- 
ization, relates  the  following  fact  which  had  come  to  his 
own  knowledge.  A  certain  religious  chanced  to  be  the 
companion  of  the  saint  on  a  journey  of  some  days,  but 
being  of  another  country,  and  neither  of  them  under- 
standing the  language  of  the  other,  they  were  unable  to 
hold  any  conversation  together.  Desiring  very  much, 
however,  to  profit  by  the  time  he  should  spend  in  his 
society,  this  religious  secretly  prayed  to  God  that,  for  the 
three  days  they  should  be  together,  they  might  be  intel- 
ligible to  one  another,  each  speaking  in  his  own  tongue, 
and  this  favour  was  granted  until  they  reached  their 
journey's  end.  We  read  also  that,  after  a  night  spent  in 
long  disputes  with  the  heretics,  Dominic  left  the  place  of 
conference  in  company  with  a  Cistercian  monk,  and  de- 
sired to  retire  into  a  neighbouring  church,  in  order, 
according  to  his  custom,  to  spend  the  remainder  of  the 
night  in  prayer.  They  found  the  doors  locked,  and  were 
therefore  obliged  to  kneel  outside.  But  scarcely  had  they 
done  so,  than,  without  being  able  to  say  how,  they  found 
themselves  before  the  high  altar  inside  the  church,  and 
remained  there  until  break  of  day.  In  the  morning  the 
people  found  them  there,  and  crowding  together,  brought 
them  the  sick  and  infirm  in  great  numbers  to  be  healed. 
Among  these  were  several  possessed  persons,  whom  the 
holy  father  was  intreated  to  restore  by  his  touch.  He 
took  a  stole,  and  fastened  it  on  his  shoulders  as  if  about 
to  vest  for  mass ;  then  throwing  it  around  the  necks  of  the 
possessed,  they  were  immediately  delivered. 

These  miracles,  some  of  which  are  mentioned  in  the 
process  of  his  canonization,  were  commonly  known  and 
talked  of  both  by  the  crusaders  and  by  the  people  of 
Toulouse.  Among  the  latter  their  effect  was  sensibly 
felt,  and  in  no  sniall  degree  aided  the  success  of  his 
preaching.  Yet  the  marvels  produced  by  his  simple  elo- 
quence were,  perhaps,  as  great  in  their  way  as  those 
directly  supernatural  gifts  communicated  to  him  by  God. 
d  2 


36  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

One  day,  as  he  prayed  in  the  church  of  Fanjeaux,  nine 
women  who  until  then  had  been  of  the  heretical  sect, 
came  to  him,  and  threw  themselves  at  his  feet  in  great 
anguish.  "Servant  of  God,"  they  cried,  "if  what  you 
preached  to  us  this  morning  is  true,  we  have  till  now 
been  living  in  horrible  darkness  ;  therefore  have  compas- 
sion on  us,  and  teach  us  how  we  may  be  saved."  The 
holy  man  looked  on  them  with  a  bright  and  cheerful 
countenance,  and  comforted  them  with  words  of  hope. 
Then  he  prayed  awhile,  and  turning  to  them  bade  them 
be  of  good  heart,  and  not  be  afraid  of  what  they  should 
see.  Scarcely  had  he  spoken,  when  they  saw  in  the 
midst  of  them  a  hideous  animal,  of  a  ferocious  and  hor- 
rible aspect.  It  fled  from  among  them,  and  seemed  to 
escape  from  the  church  through  the  bell-tower.  The 
women  were  greatly  terrified,  but  Dominic  spoke  and  re- 
assured them.  "  God  has  shown  you,  my  daughters,"  he 
said,  "  how  terrible  is  the  devil  whom  till  now  you  have 
served;  thank  Him,  therefore,  for  the  evil  one  has  from 
this  moment  no  more  power  over  you."  These  women, 
who  were  all  of  noble  birth,  he  afterwards  caused  to  bo 
instructed  in  the  faith,  and  received  into  the  monastery 
of  Prouille.  Miracles  and  preaching,  however,  are  not 
the  only  means,  scarcely  the  most  powerful,  by  which  the 
saints  of  God  extend  the  kingdom  of  their  Master.  The 
silent  eloquence  of  a  holy  life  has  a  larger  apostolate  than 
the  gifts  of  tongues  or  of  healing ;  and  we  find  some  re- 
cords of  the  harvest  of  souls  which  were  gathered  to  the 
faith  solely  by  the  example  of  the  servant  of  God.  There 
were  living,  near  Toulouse,  some  noble  ladies  who  had 
been  led  to  join  the  heretics,  being  seduced  into  this  error 
by  the  show  of  pretended  austerity  which  their  preachers 
affected.  Dominic,  who  had  their  conversion  greatly  at 
heart,  determined  to  preach  there  that  Lent;  and,  going 
thither  with  one  companion,  it  chanced,  by  the  providence 
of  God,  that  they  were  received  to  lodge  in  the  house 
occupied  by  these  ladies.  He  remained  there  during  the 
whole  time  of  his  stay,  and  they  saw  with  wonder  the 
reality  of  that  life  of  penance  which  differed  so  widely 
from   the   empty   professions   of  the   heretics.     The   soft 


HIS   APOSTOLIC    LABOURS.  37 

beds  which  had  been  prepared  for  them  were  never  used, 
for  Dominic  and  his  companion  slept  upon  the  ground. 
Their  food  was  scarcely  touched;  until  Easter  time  they 
took  only  bread  and  water,  and  that  in  scanty  measure. 
Their  nights  were  spent  in  prayer  and  austerities,  their 
days  in  labours  for  God;  and  so  new  and  wonderful  did 
this  life  seem  to  those  who  beheljd  it,  that  it  opened  their 
eyes  to  the  truth  of  the  faith  which  inspired  it ;  and  the 
whole  household  made  their  recantation  in  his  hands  be- 
fore the  time  of  his  stay  was  ended.  In  after  days  he 
was  often  accustomed  to  exhort  his  brethren  to  this,  as 
the  best  method  of  preaching,  reminding  them  that  it  was 
by  good  works,  and  by  the  outward  habit,  even  more  than 
by  holy  words,  that  we  must  let  our  light  shine  before 
men  to  the  glory  of  God. 

It  was  this  singular  holiness  of  life  which  endeared  him 
so  wonderfully  to  all  those  among  whom  he  was  thrown. 
Three  times  the  episcopal  dignity  was  offered  to  him,  but 
he  refused  it  with  a  kind  of  horror.  He  was  used  to  say 
he  would  rather  go  away  by  night  with  nothing  but  his 
staff  than  accept  any  office  or  dignity.  He  could  not, 
however,  succeed  in  avoiding  a  temporary  appointment  as 
vicar  to  Guy,  bishop  of  Carcassona,  during  the  time  that 
the  latter  was  absent  from  his  diocese  preaching  the  cru- 
sade, and  gathering  together  fresh  forces  to  join  the  army 
of  the  Count  de  Montfort.  He  held  this  charge  during 
the  Lent  of  the  year  1213,  during  which  time  he  resided 
in  the  episcopal  palace,  and  discharged  all  the  duties  of 
the  office,  without,  however,  suffering  them  to  interfere 
with  his  customary  occupation  of  preaching  and  instruct- 
ing in  the  faith.  During  this  Lent  we  again  find  him 
spoken  of  as  fasting  on  bread  and  water,  and  sleeping  on 
the  ground.  "When  Easter  came,"  says  his  historian, 
"  he  seemed  stronger  and  more  vigorous  than  before,  and 
of  a  better  aspect."  We  may  remark  in  this  appointment, 
how  entirely  distinct  Dominic's  mission  was  from  the 
military  or  political  affairs  in  which  many  other  of  the 
Catholic  clergy  and  prelates  took  their  share.  So  far 
from  being  himself  the  preacher  of  the  crusade,  we  see 
him  taking  the  place  and  duties  of  another  who  is  engaged 


33  1.1?  £   OF  8.  DOMINIC. 

in  that  undertaking,  as  if  the  purely  spiritual  character 
(f  his  ministry  were  generally  recognised.  Once,  and 
once  only,  do  we  find  his  name  in  any  way  associated 
vith  any  of  the  judicial  severities  of  the  time;  it  is  in  an 
anecdote  given  by  Theodoric  of  Apoldia,  hut  it  will  be 
hard  to  draw  from  it  the  conclusion  that  Dominic  was  the 
bloody  persecutor  represented  in  popular  fiction ;  for  as 
we  shall  see,  his  part  was  to  release,  and  not  to  condemn 
the  prisoner  in  question.  "  Some  heretics,"  says  the  his- 
torian, "  having  been  taken  and  convicted  in  the  country 
of  Toulouse,  were  given  over  to  secular  judgment,  because 
they  refused  to  return  to  the  faith,  and  were  condemned 
to  the  Haines.  Dominic  looked  at  one  of  them  with  a 
heart  to  which  were  revealed  the  secrets  of  God,  and  said 
to  the  officers  of  the  court,  '  Put  that  man  aside,  and  see 
well  that  no  harm  befall  him.'  Then,  turning  to  the 
heretic,  he  said  with  great  sweetness,  'My  son,  I  know 
that  you  must  have  time,  but  you  will  at  length  become  a 
saint.'  Wonderful  to  relate,  this  man  remained  for 
twenty  years  longer  in  the  blindness  of  heresy,  till  at 
length,  touched  by  the  grace  of  God,  he  renounced  his 
errors,  and  died  in  the  habit  of  the  Friars  Preachers,  with 
the  reputation  of  sanctity." 

The  presence  of  Dominic  at  this  execution  will  be  un- 
derstood, if  we  remember  that,  before  the  diliverance  of 
any  heretic  to  the  secular  arm  for  punishment,  every 
effort  was  made,  by  the  exhortations  of  persons  appointed 
for  that  purpose,  to  convince  them  of  their  errors,  and 
reconcile  them  to  the  Church;  in  which  case  their  sen- 
tence was  rescinded,  and  they  were  admitted  to  canonical 
penance.  This  course  was  always  followed  in  the  later 
proceedings  of  the  Inquisition;  the  part  of  the  Church 
was  to  reconcile  and  convince,  and  not  to  condemn; 
in  the  instance  just  quoted,  we  might  call  it  to  pardon. 
This  office  was  exercised  by  Dominic  in  virtue  of  the 
powers  he  held  from  the  Papal  legates;  two  letters  prov- 
ing this  fact  are  giving  us  by  Echard,  but  have  no  date 
attached,  although  there  is  little  doubt  they  belong  to  this 
period  of  his  life.  They  are  as  follows:  "To  all  the  faith- 
ful in  Christ  to  whom  these  presents  may  come,  Brother 


39  HIS  APOSTOLIC    LABOURS. 

Dominic,  canon  of  Osma,  the  Humble  minister  of  preach- 
ing, wishes  health  and  charity  in  the  Lord.  We  make 
known  to  your  discretion,  that  we  have  permitted  Ray- 
mund  William  de  Hauterive  Pelaganira  to  receive  into 
his  house  of  Toulouse,  to  live  there  after  the  ordinary 
life,  William  Huguecion,  whom  he  has  declared  to  us  to 
have  hitherto  worn  the  habit  of  the  heretics.  We  per- 
mit this  until  such  time  as  it  shall  be  otherwise  ordered 
either  to  him  or  to  me  by  the  Lord  Cardinal ;  and  this 
shall  not  in  any  way  turn  to  his  dishonour  or  prejudice." 
If  it  seems  singular  to  us  in  those  days  that  a  written 
permission  was  necessary  in  order  to  allow  any  man  to 
receive  into  his  house  a  reconciled  heretic,  we  must  re- 
member the  double  character  attaching  to  these  people. 
They  were  not  merely  heretics,  but  the  disturbers  of 
the  public  peace;  and,  as  the  authors  of  every  kind  of 
outrage  against  society,  it  is  not  singular  that  some  kind 
of  pledge  for  their  future  good  conduct  was  reasonably 
demanded. 

The  other  letter  is  of  a  severer  character ;  it  is  as  fol- 
lows :  "  To  all  the  faithful  in  Christ  to  whom  these  pre- 
sents may  come,  Brother  Dominic,  canon  of  Osma,  wishes 
health  in  the  Lord.  By  the  authority  of  the  Lord  Abbot 
of  Citeaux,  who  has  committed  to  us  this  office,  we  have 
reconciled  to  the  Church  the  bearer  of  these  presents, 
Ponce  Royer,  converted  by  the  grace  of  God  from  heresy 
to  the  faith ;  and  we  order,  in  virtue  of  the  oath  which 
he  has  taken  to  us,  that  during  three  Sundays  or  feast- 
days  he  shall  go  to  the  entrance  of  the  village,  bare  to  the 
waist,  and  be  struck  with  rods  by  the  priest.  We  also 
order  him  to  abstain  for  ever  from  flesh,  eggs,  cheese,  and 
all  which  comes  from  flesh,  except  at  Easter,  Pentecost, 
and  Christmas,  when  he  shall  eat  some  to  protest  against 
his  former  errors.  He  shall  keep  three  Lents  each  year, 
fasting  and  abstaining  from  fish,  unless  from  bodily  infir- 
mity or  the  heat  of  the  weather  he  shall  be  dispensed. 
He  shall  dress  in  religious  habit,  as  well  in  the  form  as 
in  the  colour,  t©  the  ends  of  which  shall  be  hung  two 
little  crosses.  Every  day,  if  possible,  he  shall  hear  mass, 
and  he  shall  go  to  vespers  on  festival  days.     Seven  times 


40  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

a  day  he  shall  recite  ten  "  Pater  Nosters,"  and  lie  shall  say 
twenty  in  the  middle  of  the  night.  He  shall  observe 
chastity,  and  once  a  month  he  shall,  in  the  morning,  pre- 
sent this  paper  to  the  Chaplain  of  the  village  of  Cere. 
We  desire  this  Chaplain  to  have  great  care  that  his  peni- 
tent lead  a  holy  life,  and  observe  all  we  have  said  until 
the  lord  legate  shall  otherwise  ordain.  If  he  neglect  to 
do  so  through  contempt,  we  will  that  he  be  excommuni- 
cated as  perjured  and  heretic,  and  be  separated  from  the 
society  of  the  faithful." 

Such  was  still  the  Church's  discipline  in  the  thirteenth 
century.  We  who  live  in  days  when  that  discipline  has 
been  gradually,  though  reluctantly,  relaxed,  because  of 
the  relaxing  love  and  faith  of  penitents,  are  amazed  at 
its  severity :  we  are  even  disposed  to  lay  the  responsi- 
bility of  its  seeming  harshness  on  the  head  of  him  who 
pronounced  the  sentence.  But  Dominic  was  in  no  way 
the  legislator  in  such  a  case  as  this :  he  was  simply  the 
executor  and  dispenser  of  the  Church's  law.  The  above 
diploma  is  one  of  those  monumental  records  of  canonical 
penances  which  we  occasionally  find  preserved  in  the 
course  of  history,  and  which  when  so  stumbled  on  are 
almost  invariably  rocks  of  offence  to  those  who  are 
accustomed  to  look  on  a  litany,  or  a  '  Salve  Regina,'  as 
a  reasonable  penance  for  the  sins  of  a  life.  The  ac- 
cumulation of  indulgences  in  modern  times  ought  surely 
to  have  its  significance  to  such  minds.  In  those  days, 
men  really  performed  the  penances  which  are  now  dis- 
pensed. The  rod  which  descends  so  gently  on  the  head 
of  the  wandering  stranger  in  the  Roman  basilicas, — that 
ghost  of  the  ancient  penitential  discipline, — fell  with  a 
hearty  earnestness  on  the  shoulders  of  our  fathers;  and 
we  cannot  too  often  remind  ourselves,  by  means  of  such 
documents  as  that  we  have  just  read,  of  a  difference 
which  should  cover  us  with  humiliation  for  the  feeble- 
ness of  modern  penitence,  rather  than  send  us  to  criticize 
the  severity  with  which  the  Church  has  ever  looked  on 
sin. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  institution  of  the  Kosary.    The  Council  of  Lavaur.    The 
battle  of  Muret. 

We  have  given  a  few  anecdotes  of  the  life  led  by 
Dominic  during  a  time  when  war  and  bloodshed  were 
raging  around  him.  They  are  all  that  are  left  us  to 
mark  his  course  for  many  years.  But  it  was  during  this 
time,  though  it  would  be  difficult  to  affix  the  precise 
date,  that  he  propagated  that  celebrated  devotion  which 
would  alone  entitle  its  author  to  our  veneration,  did  we 
know  him  in  no  other  way  than  as  the  first  institutor  of 
the  Rosary.  The  universal  voice  of  tradition  affirms  this 
devotion  to  have  been  revealed  to  him  by  the  Blessed 
Virgin  herself;  and  if  we  consider  its  almost  super- 
natural character,  combining  as  it  does  the  simplest 
prayers  with  the  profoundest  meditations,  or  again  if  we 
remember  the  extraordinary  power  with  which  it  has 
been  blessed,  and  its  adoption  through  the  universal 
Church  as  the  very  alphabet  of  prayer,  it  is  difficult 
for  us  not  to  believe  it  something  more  than  a  human 
invention,  but  rather  as  a  gift  which  came  to  us  as  the 
most  precious  token  of  the  love  of  our  dear  Mother. 
Although,  however,  there  is  ample  ground  for  this  belief, 
the  details  of  any  such  revelation  have  not  been  pre- 
served to  us  for  the  circumstantial  accounts  of  the 
giving  of  the  Rosary,  which  are  so  popular  with  later 
writers,  are  not  to  be  found  in  any  of  the  more  ancient 
authors,  who  leave  the  date  and  the  manner  of  its  first 
institution  in  obscurity.*  Dominic's  life  during  these 
years  was,  for  the  most  part,  a  lonely  and  hidden  one: 

*  Local  tradition  declares  the  sanctury  of  Notre  Dame  de  Dreche, 
near  Albi,  to  have  been  the  scene  of  the  vision  of  our  Lady ;  it  is 
certain  that  this  sanctury  first  attained  celebrity  during  the  Albi- 
gensian  troubles,  and  was  one  of  the  favourite  resorts  of  fc>.  Dominic 
in  the  course  of  his  apostolic  labours. 


42  LIFE   OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

his  communications  with  heaven  remained  locked  within 
his  own  breast ;  for  it  was  not  with  him  as  with  so  many 
other  saints,  on  whom  a  hundred  busy  eyes  were  always 
fixed  to  mark  every  indication  of  supernatural  grace,  every 
phenomenon,  if  we  may  so  say,  of  their  ecstacy  and  prayer : 
his  own  lips  were  the  only  source  from  whence  the  secret 
favours  of  God  could  ever  have  been  made  known,  and 
they  certainly  were  the  last  which  were  ever  likely  to  speak 
of  them  to  another. 

We  again  remark  in  the  institution  of  the  Rosary 
something  of  that  characteristic  feature  of  S.  Dominie  to 
which  we  have  before  alluded.  It  was  not  altogether  a 
new  devotion.  There  was  nothing  novel  in  the  frequent 
repetition  of  the  "  Angelical  Salutation,"  or  the  "  Pater 
Noster  :"  such  devotion  had  been  common  in  the  Cnureh 
from  time  immemorial,  and  we  read  of  the  hermits  of  the 
deserts,  counting  such  prayers  with  little  stones,  in  the 
same  way  as  we  use  the  beads.  The  novelty  was  the 
association  of  mental  and  vocal  prayer  in  those  mys- 
teries, which  gather  together,  under  fifteen  heads,  all  the 
history  of  the  life  of  Christ.  This  working  out  of  the 
materials  which  lay  before  him,  and  which  others  had 
used  before  him,  is  the  peculiarity  of  which  we  "have 
spoken.  It  is  the  distinctive  humility  of  our  Saint.  If 
we  reflect  on  the  way  in  which  all  his  greatest  actions 
were  performed,  we  may  safely  say,  that  they  came  from 
a  soul  in  which  the  petty  desire  of  personal  reputation, 
of  making  a  noise  in  the  world,  of  being  known  as  the 
founder  of  an  institution,  or  the  originator  of  a  noble 
thought,  was  never  felt.  Nay,  if  we  may  so  say,  there 
is  something  which  perpetually  reminds  us  of  our  Lord's 
own  way  of  working;  when  He  took  His  parables  and 
similitudes  from  the  common  things  before  His  eyes,  and 
was  content  to  let  His  Church  grow  out  of  the  relics  of 
Judaism,  as  its  visible  temples  may  sometimas  be  seen 
standing  among  the  ruins  of  heathen  fanes,  converting 
all  their  beauty  to  a  sacred  use.  In  all  S.  Dominic's 
institutions  we  see  this  unconsciousness  of  self,  which  is 
an  evidence  of  the  highest  class  of  mind,  and  it  is 
probably  from  this  cause  that,  in  the  commencement  of 


INSTITUTION    OF   THE   ROSARY.  43 

all  of  them,  there  is  an  obscurity  and  uncertainty  ?f  date 
which  is  rarely  found  to  attach  to  the  inventions  of  human 
genius. 

We  may,  however,  consider  it  as  certain  that  the  Rosary 
had  begun  to  be  propagated  before  the  year  1213,  as  we 
are  assured  that  it  was  used  by  the  soldiers  of  the  Count 
de  Montfort's  army  before  the  battle  of  Muret,  which 
took  place  in  that  year.  Many  stories  are  told  of  the 
wonders  which  followed  on  its  first  adoption.  Some  de- 
spised it,  and  ridiculed  its  use ;  among  whom  was  one  of 
the  bishops  of  the  country  of  Toulouse,  who,  hearing  the 
Rosary  preached  by  S.  Dominic,  spoke  of  it  afterwards 
with  contempt,  saying  it  was  only  fit  for  women  and 
children.  He  was  soon  convinced  of  his  error ;  for  shortly 
afterwards,  falling  into  great  persecution  and  calumnies, 
he  seemed  in  a  vision  to  see  himself  plunged  into  thick 
mire  from  which  there  was  no  way  of  escape.  Raising  his 
eyes,  he  saw  above  him  the  forms  of  our  Lady  and  S. 
Dominic,  who  let  down  to  him  a  chain  made  of  a  hundred 
and  fifty  rings,  fifteen  of  which  were  gold;  and  laying 
hold  of  this  he  found  himself  safely  drawn  to  dry  land. 
By  this  he  understood,  that  it  was  by  means  of  the  de- 
votion of  the  Rosary  he  should  be  delivered  from  his 
enemies,  which  shortly  took  place  after  he  had  devoutly 
commenced  its  use.  Another  similar  story  relates  how  a 
noble  lady  opposed  the  new  confraternities  of  this  devo- 
tion with  all  her  power,  but  was  converted  by  the  follow- 
ing vision,  which  was  granted  to  her  one  night  in  prayer. 
Being  rapt  in  ecstasy,  she  saw  an  innumerable  company  of 
men  and  women,  surrounded  by  a  great  splendour,  who 
devoutly  recited  the  Rosary  together;  and  for  every  "Ave 
Maria"  which  they  repeated,  a  beautiful  star  came  forth 
from  their  mouths,  and  the  prayers  were  written  in  a  book 
in  letters  of  gold.  Then  the  Blessed  Virgin  spoke  to  her 
and  said,  "  In  this  book  are  written  the  names  of  the 
brethren  and  sisters  of  my  Rosary,  but  thy  name  is  not 
written;  and  because  thou  hast  persuaded  many  not  to 
enter  it,  there  shall  befall  thee  a  sickness  for  a  time,  which 
yet  shall  turn  to  thy  salvation."  The  lady  was  soon  after 
seized  with  sickness,   and,   recognizing   the   truth   of  the 


44  LIFE   OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

prediction,  she  caused  herself,  on  her  recovery,  to  be  in- 
scribed among  the  members  of  the  confraternity.  The 
spread  of  this  devotion  was  the  most  successful  weapon 
in  the  eradication  of  the  Albigensian  heresy.  The  child  of 
ignorance,  it  fled  before  the  light  of  truth;  and  as  the 
mysteries  of  the  faith  were  gradually  brought  back  to  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  the  people,  the  mysteries  of  falsehood 
disappeared.  The  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation,  so  specially 
commemorated  in  the  Rosary,  became  then,  as  ever,  the 
bulwark  of  the  truth ;  and  wherever  the  sooiety  was  esta- 
blished, and  the  name  of  Mary  was  invoked,  that  name,  as 
the  Church  sings,  "alone  destroyed  all  heresies." 

During  the  time  that  Dominic  exercised  the  office  of 
vicar  to  the  Bishop  of  Carcassona,  the  position  of  the 
contending  parties  in  Languedoc  was  considerably  altered 
by  the  arrival  of  Peter,  king  of  Arragon,  who  joined  the 
forces  of  the  Count  of  Toulouse  with  a  powerful  army. 
He  was  allied  to  the  count  by  marriage,  but  had  hitherto 
contented  himself  by  negotiating  in  his  favour  with  the 
court  of  Rome.  In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1213, 
however,  a  council  was  summoned  at  Lavaur,  at  which 
the  king  formally  demanded  from  the  legates  and  Catholic 
chiefs  the  restitution  of  the  towns  and  lands  which  they 
had  taken  in  the  course  of  the  war  from  the  Count  of 
Toulouse  and  the  other  nobles  who  had  espoused  .his 
cause,  and  their  restoration  to  the  communion  of  the 
Church.  The  council  consented  to  admit  the  others  on 
the  terms  proposed,  but  refused  to  include  the  Count  of 
Toulouse,  whose  repeated  perjuries  and  evasions  had 
rendered  him  unworthy  of  trust.  This  answer  was  con- 
sidered by  the  king  as  an  evidence  that  there  was  a  re- 
solve to  destroy  the  house  of  Toulouse,  from  motives  of 
personal  ambition  on  the  part  of  the  Count  de  Montfort ; 
and  he,  therefore,  declared  the  family  of  Raymond  under 
his  protection,  and  appealed  to  the  Holy  See  against  the 
decision  of  the  council.  The  legates,  on  their  part,  repre- 
sented to  the  Pope  that  the  only  chance  of  restoring  peace 
to  the  distracted  country  was  by  the  entire  removal  of 
the  house  of  Toulouse,  and  the  destruction  of  its  heredi- 
tary power.      The  contradictory  appeals  and  reports  which 


COUNCIL   OF   LAVAUR.  45 

were  sent  him,  rendered  it  difficult  for  Innocent  to  judge 
in  a  cause  involved  every  way  in  embarrassment.  That 
he  was  very  far  from  advocating  unnecessary  or  undue 
severity  towards  Raymond  and  his  family,  we  may  gather 
from  his  own  letters  to  the  Count  de  Montfort,  in  which 
he  urges  him  not  to  let  the  world  think  that  he  fought 
more  for  his  own  interests  than  for  the  cause  of  the  faith. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  complains,  in  a  letter,  that 
the  king  of  Arragon  has  misled  him  as  to  the  state  of 
affairs,  and  enjoins  him  to  proceed  no  further  against  the 
Count  de  Montfort,  until  the  arrival  of  a  cardinal  whom 
he  is  about  to  despatch  to  the  spot,  to  examine  the  whole 
question  as  his  delegate.  It  was  too  late.  Before  the 
order  arrived,  the  king  had  passed  the  Pyrenees,  and, 
joining  the  troops  of  the  Counts  of  Toulouse,  Foix,  and 
Comminges,  prepared  to  advance  against  the  army  of  the 
crusaders.  Their  position  seemed  indeed  but  gloomy, 
for  the  forces  of  the  heretic  leaders  far  outnumbered  those 
of  the  Catholics.  A  lay  brother  of  the  Cistercians,  who 
watched  the  progress  of  the  war  with  painful  interest, 
went  in  company  with  Stephen  de  Metz,  another  religious 
of  the  same  order,  to  consult  Dominic  at  this  junctureA 
well  knowing  that  God  often  revealed  to  him  the  secrets 
of  coming  events.  "Will  these  evils  ever  have  an  end, 
Master  Dominic?"  asked  the  afflicted  brother.  He  re- 
peated his  question  many  times,  but  Dominic  remained 
silent.  At  length  he  replied,  "  There  will  be  a  time  when 
the  malice  of  the  men  of  Toulouse  will  have  its  end ;  but 
it  is  far  away ;  and  there  will  be  much  blood  shed  first, 
and  a  king  will  die  in  battle."  Brother  Stephen  and  the 
Cistercian  interpreted  this  prediction  to  allude  to  Prince 
Louis  of  France,  the  son  of  Philip  Augustus,  who  had 
joined  the  army  of  the  crusaders  in  the  previous  February. 
"No,"  replied  Dominic,  "it  will  not  touch  the  king  of 
France :  it  is  another  king  whose  thread  of  life  will  be  cut 
in  the  course  of  this  war."  This  prophecy  was  very  shortly 
to  be  accomplished,  and  Dominic  himself  was  destined  to 
be  present  on  the  spot  where  the  decisive  struggle  took 
place  which  witnessed  its  fulfilment. 

Very  shortly  after  uttering  the  prediction,  he  left  Car- 


46  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

cassona  on  the  return  of  the  bishop,  intending  to  join  a 
congress  of  the  Catholic  prelates  and  legates  which  was 
to  be  held  at  Muret.  On  the  road  thither  he  passed 
through  the  city  of  Castres,  where  the  body  of  the  martyr 
S.  Vincent  was  preserved,  for  the  veneration  of  the  faith- 
ful. Entering  the  church,  to  pay  his  devotion  at  the 
shrine  of  the  saint,  he  remained  so  late  that  the  prior  of 
the  collegiate  canons  of  Castres,  who  wras  his  host  for  the 
time,  despatched  one  of  the  brethren  to  call  him  to  din- 
ner. The  brother  obeyed,  but  on  going  into  the  church, 
he  saw  Dominic  raised  in  the  air  in  ecstasy  before  the 
altar ;  and  not  daring  to  disturb  him,  he  returned  to  the 
prior,  who  himself  hastened  to  the  spot,  and  beheld  the 
spectacle  with  his  own  eyes.  So  forcible  was  the  impres- 
sion it  left  on  his  mind  of  the  sanctity  of  the  man  of  God, 
that  shortly  after  he  joined  himself  to  him,  and  was  one 
of  those  who  formed  the  first  foundation  of  the  order. 
This  was  the  celebrated  Matthew  of  France,  afterwards 
the  prior  of  the  convent  of  S.  James  in  Paris,  and  the 
first  and  last  who  ever  bore  the  title  of  abbot  among  the 
Friars  Preachers.  After  this  incident,  Dominic  proceeded 
on  his  road  to  Muret. 

It  was  on  the  10th  of  September  of  the  same  year,  that 
the  king  of  Arragon  suddenly  appeared  before  the  walls  of 
this  place,  with  an  army,  according  to  some  writers,  of 
100,000  men,  or,  as  others  more  probably  state,  of  40,000. 
The  intelligence  of  his  approach  reached  De  Montfort  at 
Fanjeaux.  It  seems  probable  that  this  hostile  movement 
took  the  Catholic  chieftain  by  surprise;  for  only  a  few 
weeks  previously,  he  had  been  invited  to  a  friendly  con- 
ference by  the  king,  and  so  little  was  he  prepared  for  any 
active  measures  at  the  time  (owing  to  the  pending  nego- 
tiations with  the  Roman  court),  that  he  had  no  more  than 
800  horse,  and  a  small  number  of  men-at-arms  with  him, 
with  which  to  come  to  the  relief  of  the  besieged.  To 
oppose  so  contemptible  a  force  to  the  army  of  the  king, 
seemed  little  less  than  madness,  yet  he  never  hesitated. 
On  the  day  following  that  on  which  the  news  reached 
him,  he  set  out  from  Fanjeaux,  taking  with  him  the 
bishops  and  legates,  amongst  whom  was  Fulk,  bishop   of 


BATTLE   OF   MURET.  47 

Toulouse,  -with  the  intention  of  at  least  attempting  a 
pacific  settlement  before  the  last  appeal  to  arms.  He 
stopped  on  his  way  at  the  Cistercian  monastery  of  Bol- 
bonne,  and  going  into  the  church,  laid  his  sword  on  the 
altar,  as  though  to  commend  his  cause  to  God,  and  remained 
for  some  time  in  prayer ;  then  taking  back  his  sword,  as 
now  no  longer  his,  but  God's,  he  proceeded  to  Saverdun, 
where  he  spent  the  night  in  confession  and  preparation 
for  death.  His  little  company  of  followers  did  the  same, 
and  on  the  morning  of  the  following  day  they  all  com- 
municated, as*  men  who  were  about  to  offer  their  lives  as 
a  sacrifice.  Some  authors  tells  us  that  Dominic  was  pre- 
sent with  the  other  legates  and  ecclesiastics  in  the  army ; 
others  name  him  as  being  in  their  company  only  at 
Muret ;  but  it  seems  probable  that  he  had  joined  them 
previously,  and  if  the  current  tradition  is  the  correct  one, 
that  the  crusaders  ascribed  their  subsequent  victory  to 
the  particular  assistance  of  Mary,  whom  they  had  united 
to  invoke  in  the  prayers  of  the  Rosary,  we  may  well  be- 
lieve that  this  appeal  to  our  Lady  of  Victories  came  from 
his  counsel  and  exhortation.  The  army  reached  Muret 
on  the  side  of  the  town  opposite  to  that  where  the  forces 
of  the  king  of  Arragon  were  drawn  up;  but,  before  en- 
tering the  gates,  the  bishops  were  dispatched  with  pro- 
positions of  peace  to  the  enemy's  camp.  A  contemptuous 
sarcasm  was  the  only  reply  they  received,  and  returning 
to  the  army  they  all  entered  Muret  together.  But  they 
determined  on  one  more  effort,  and  very  early  in  the 
morning  dispatched  another  message  to  the  king,  to  the 
effect  that  they  would  wait  upon  him  barefoot,  to  bring 
about  the  terms  of  reconciliation.  They  were  preparing 
to  execute  this  design,  when  a  body  of  cavalry  attacked 
the  gates ;  for  the  king  had  ordered  the  advance,  without 
even  deigning  a  reply  to  this  second  embassy. 

The  scene  that  morning  within  the  walls  of  Muret  was 
surely  a  religious  one.  Eight  hundred  devoted  men,  for- 
tified by  prayer  and  the  sacraments  of  reconciliation,  were 
about,  as  it  seemed  to  human  judgment,  to  lay  down  their 
lives  as  a  sacrifice  for  the  faith.  There  might  be  seen 
how   the  holy  sacrifice  was  celebrated  iu  the  presence  of 


48  LIFE   OF   S.    DOM&IC. 

tliein  all ;  and  how,  when  the  Bishop  of  Uzes  turned  to 
say  the  last  "Dominus  vobiscum,"  De  Montfort  knelt 
before  him,  clad  in  armour,  and  said,  "  And  I  consecrate 
my  blood  and  life  for  God  and  His  faith ;"  and  how  the 
swords  and  shields  of  the  combatants  were  once  more 
offered  on  the  altar;  and  when  it  was  over,  and  the  horse- 
men were  gathering  together,  and  the  very  sound  of  the 
attack  was  at  the  gates,  these  men  all  once  more  dis- 
mounted, and  bent  their  knee  to  venerate  and  kiss  the 
crucifix,  extended  to  them  by  the  Bishop  of  Toulouse.  He 
had  come  to  give  them  his  parting  words  and  blessing. 
Did  his  voice  falter,  or  his  eye  grow  dim  at  the  spectacle 
before  him  ?  Something  there  certainly  was  of  human 
emotion  at  that  moment  which  history  does  not  notice; 
for  we  are  told  it  was  not  he,  but  the  Bishop  of  Com- 
minges  who  stood  by  his  side,  that  spoke  the  last  charge 
to  the  army,  and,  taking  the  crucifix  from  the  hands  of 
Fulk,  solemnly  blessed  them  as  they  knelt.  Then  they 
rode  out  to  battle,  and  the  ecclesiastics  turned  back  into 
the  church  to  pray. 

Nothing  more  heroic  is  to  be  found  in  the  whole  history 
of  chivalry,  than  this  battle  of  Muret.  It  was  a  single 
charge.  They  rode  through  the  open  gates,  and  after  a 
feigned  movement  of  retreat,  they  suddenly  turned  rein, 
and  dashed  right  on  the  ranks  of  their  opponents,  with 
the  impetuosity  of  a  mountain-torrent.  Swift  as  light- 
ning they  broke  through  the  troops  that  opposed  their 
onward  course,  scattering  them  before  their  horses'  hoofs 
with  something  of  supernatural  energy,  nor  did  they 
draw  bridle  till  they  reached  the  centre  of  the  army 
where  the  king  himself  was  stationed,  surrounded  by 
the  flower  of  his  nobles  and  followers.  A  moment's 
fierce  struggle  ensued;  but  the  fall  of  the  king  decided 
the  fortune  of  the  day.  Terrified  by  the  shock  of  that 
tremendous  charge,  as  it  hurled  itself  upon  them,  the 
whole  army  fled  in  panic.  The  voice  and  example  of 
their  chief  might  again  have  rallied  them,  but  that  was 
wanting;  Peter  of  Arragon  lay  dead  on  the  field,  and 
Dominic's  prophecy  was  fulfilled. 


BATTLE   OF   MURET.  49 

And  where  was  he  meanwhile?  and  what  place  has 
this  page  of  chivalry  in  the  annals  of  his  apostolic  life  ? 
The  flash  of  swords,  and  the  tramp  of  those  galloping 
steeds,  startle  us  strangely  from  the  story  of  his  quiet, 
lonely  wanderings  over  the  mountains,  filling  their  echoes 
with  the  sound  of  his  hymns  and  litanies,  as  he  goes 
about  to  preach.  Where  are  we  to  look  for  him  in  such 
a  scene  ?  Protestant  writers  are  ready  enough  to  tell  us 
he  was  at  the  head  of  the  Crusaders,  carrying  a  crucifix, 
and  urging  them  on  to  slaughter.  We  must  be  suffered 
to  think,  however,  that  neither  in  the  schools  of  Palencia, 
nor  in  the  canonry  of  Osma,  could  he  have  fitted  himself 
for  such  a  post  as  the  leader  of  a  cavalry  charge  whose 
equal  is  scarce  to  be  found  in  history.  Yet  the  battle  of 
Muret  forms  part  of  the  story  of  Dominic's  life ;  he  had 
his  place  there  ;  for  that  one  moment,  and,  so  far  as 
history  gives  us  any  token,  for  that  one  alone,  he  was 
brought  in  contact  with  the  stormy  scenes  of  the  Crusade. 
He  had  his  place;  but,  to  find  it,  we  must  leave  the 
battle-field,  and  go  back  to  the  church  of  Muret,  where 
a  different  sight  will  greet  us.  When  the  Christian 
knights  were  ridden  forth  to  the  battle,  the  churchmen 
had  gone  before  the  altar  to  pray.  They  had  sent  their 
comrades,  as  it  seemed,  to  certain  death ;  and  their  prayer 
had  in  it  the  anguish  of  supplication.  Prostrate  on  the 
pavement,  which  they  bathed  with  their  tears,  they 
poured  out  their  souls  to  "God.  F.  Bernard,  of  the  Order 
of  Preachers,  who  lived  in  Toulouse  at  the  beginning 
of  the  following  century,  and  who  wrote  whilst  the 
memory  of  these  events  was  still  fresh  in  the  minds 
of  the  people,  thus  describes  them :  "  Then  going  into 
the  church,  they  prayed,  raising  their  hands  to  heaven, 
and  beseeching  God  for  His  servants  who  were  exposed 
to  death  for  His  sake,  with  such  great  groans,  and  cries, 
that  it  seemed  not  that  they  prayed,  but  rather  howled."* 


*  A  very  popular  tradition  has  represented  S.  Dominic  as  ascend- 
ing one  of  the  towers  on  the  wall,  and  displaying  the  crucifix  for 
the  encouragement  of  the  Christian  troops.  This  assertion  has  been 
supported  by  the  exhibition,  in  later  ages,  at  Toulouse,  of  a  crucifix 
pierced  all  over  with  arrows,  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  the 

E 


50  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

But  from  this  agonizing  suspense  they  were  roused  by 
the  shouts  of  the  populace.  The  cry  of  victory  sounded 
in  their  ears ;  they  hastened  to  the  walls,  and  beheld  the 
plain  covered  with  the  flying  companies  of  the  heretics. 
Some  plunged  into  the  waters  of  the  Garonne  and 
perished  in  their  armour ;  others  trampled  their  own 
comrades  to  death  in  the  confusion  of  their  flight  'r  many 
died  under  the  swords  of  the  Crusaders.  It  is  computed 
that  no  fewer  than  20,000  of  the  heretic  forces  were 
slain,  whilst  we  are  assured  by  all  authorities  that  eight 
only  of  the  Catholics  fell  during  the  combat  of  that  day. 
As  the  Count  de  Montfort  rode  over  that  victorious  field 
he  checked  his  horse  by  the  bleeding  and  trampled  body 
of  the  king  of  Arragon.  De  Montfort  had  some  of  the 
failings,  but  all  the  virtues,  of  his  order :  he  was  cast  in 
the  heroic  type  of  Christian  chivalry.  Descending  from 
his  horse,  he  kissed  the  body  with  tears,  and  gave  orders 
for  its  honourable  interment,  as  became  a  gallant  enemy ; 
then,  returning  barefoot  to  Muret,  he  went  first  to  the 
church  to  return  thanks  to  God,  and  gave  the  horse  and 
armour  with  which  he  had  fought  to  the  poor.  It  was  a 
true  picture  of  the  ages  of  faith. 

We  need  scarcely  be  surprised  that  so  wonderful  a  victory 
was  looked  on  as  miraculous,  and  counted  as  the  fruit  of 
prayer.     De   Montfort   himself  ever  so  regarded   it ;   and 

identical  one  used  by  him  on  the  occasion.  Polidori,  who  in  all 
things  strictly  adheres  to  the  ancient  authors,  and  is  careful  to 
repudiate  every  modern  addition  of  less  authority,  rejects  this  tale 
as  utterly  unfounded,  chiefly  from  the  entire  silence  of  F.  Bernard 
concerning  the  whole  matter;  and  as  he  was  Inquisitor  of  Toulouse 
during  fourteen  years,  if  any  such  crucifix  had  been  preserved  by  the 
Institute  in  his  day,  he  could  hardly  have  failed  noticing  it.  Pere 
Lacordaire,  in  his  eloquent  life  of  S.  Dominic,  has  followed  the 
same  argument  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  chapel  of  our  Lady  in 
the  church  of  S.  James  at  Muret,  which  was  built  as  a  memorial 
of  the  victory  in  the  course  of  the  same  year,  we  see  a  picture 
representing  the  Blessed  Virgin  giving  the  Rosary  to  S.  Dominic, 
who  holds  in  his  right  hand  a  crucifix  pierced  with  three  arrows : 
on  the  other  side  of  our  Lady,  kneel  Simon  de  Montfort  and  Fulk 
of  Toulouse.  A  fac-smile  of  this  picture,  and  of  the  same  date, 
was  long  kept  in  the  Dominican  church  at  Toulouse.  Whether 
this  picture  alluded  to  any  circumstance  which  really  took  place, 
or  was  itself  the  origin  of  the  tradition,  we  do  not  pretend  to 
determine. 


BATTLE   OF   MURET.  51 

attributing  his  success,  under  God,  to  the  intercession  of 
Dominic,  his  love  and  gratitude  to  the  saint  knew  no 
hounds.  It  has  always  been  so  associated  in  the  traditions 
and  chronicles  of  the  time  with  the  institution  of  the 
Rosary,  as  to  make  many  affirm  that  the  first  propagation 
of  that  devotion  must  be  dated  from  this  time. 

The  battle  of  Muret  was  a  fatal  blow  to  the  cause  of 
the  count  of  Toulouse.  Very  shortly  after,  Toulouse 
itself  opened  its  gates  to  the  victorious  arms  of  De  Mont- 
fort;  and  a  council,*  which  assembled  at  Montpellier  in 
the  following  year,  decided  that  the  sovereignty  of  the 
country  should  be  intrusted  to  him,  until  the  general 
council,  about  to  assemble  at  Rome,  should  declare"  fur- 
ther. Cardinal  Benvenuto,  who  reached  Toulouse  just  as 
the  decisive  blow  had  been  struck,  was  commissioned  to 
receive  the  elder  Raymond  to  absolution,  and  to  put  a 
stop  to  further  hostilities;  but  the  question  as  to  his 
future  enjoyment  of  the  temporal  rights  he  had  forfeited  by 
breach  of  engagement,  was  still  deferred. 

Twice  again  Dominic's  name  occurs  among  the  busy 
scenes  of  De  Montfort's  career.  He  was  called  on  to 
baptize  his  daughter,  and  to  celebrate  the  marriage  of  his 
eldest  son  with  the  daughter  of  the  dauphin  of  France. 
But  the  favour  of  the  victorious  chieftain,  and  the  dis- 
tractions of  the  camp  and  court,  were  scarcely  felt  by  him 
at  this  moment.  The  shifting  chances  of  the  war,  guided 
by  the  hands  of  Providence,  were  opening  to  h'im,  after 
long  waiting,  the  way  to  that  design  which  had  ever 
floated  before  his  mind's  eye.  The  clouds  which  had  so 
long  hung  over  that  distant  horizon  rose  at  last;  and 
when  Toulouse  opened  her  gates,  and  the  storm  of  the 
combat  was  lulled,  and  the  favour  of  man  was  at  hand  to 
help  on  the  will  of  God,  Dominic,  in  his  forty-sixth  year, 
prepared  to  lay  the  foundation  of  that  order  which  was 
to  bear  his  name  to  future  ages  so  long  as  the  world  and 
the  Church  should  last. 

*  In  the  Life  of  S.  Francis  we  are  informed,  that  the  holy  founder 
of  the  Friars  Minor  was  present  at  this  council,  being  then  on  his 
return  from  Spain.  He  had,  however,  no  opportunity  of  meeting 
S.  Dominic,  as  the  latter  was  then  absent  at  Carcassona,  and  took 
no  part  in  the  proceedings. 

.     E  2 


f>2 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Dominic  commences  the  foundation  of  his  order  at  Toulouse.  The 
grant  of  Fulk  of  Toulouse.  Dominic's  second  visit  to  Rome. 
The  Council  of  Lateran.  Innocent  III.  approves  the  plan  of  the 
Order.    Meeting  of  Dominic  and  Francis 

Dominic  came  to  Toulouse  soon  after  the  Crusaders 
had  entered  it,  and  was  joyfully  received  both  by  Fulk 
and  by  the  count  de  Montfort.  Neither  of  these  distin- 
guished persons  were,  however,  destined  to  be  the  imme- 
diate co-operators  with  him  in  the  foundation  of  the 
order.  Peter  Cellani,  an  opulent  citizen  of  Toulouse, 
and  another  of  the  same  rank,  known  to  us  only  under 
the  name  of  Thomas,  presented  themselves  to  him  shortly 
after  his  arrival  at  Toulouse,  and  placed  themselves  and 
all  they  had  at  his  disposal.  Peter  Cellani  offered  his 
own  house  for  the  use  of  the  few  companions  whom 
Dominic  had  gathered  together  to  commence  his  work. 
They  were  but  six  in  all,  and  in  after  years  Peter  was 
accustomed  to  boast,  that  he  had  not  been  received  into 
the  order,  but  that  it  might  rather  be  said  he  had  re- 
ceived the  order  into  his  own  house.  With  these  six 
followers,  whom  he  clothed  in  the  habit  of  the  Canons 
Regular,  which  he  himself  always  wore,  Dominic  accord- 
ingly commenced  a  life  of  poverty  and  prayer  under  rules 
of  religious  discipline. 

But  this  alone  did  not  satisfy  him;  the  first  design 
which  he  had  conceived,  and  which  had  never  left  his 
mind,  had  pre-eminently  as  its  object  the  salvation  of 
souls,  by  means  of  such  a  ministration  of  the  Divine 
Word  as  should  proceed  from  a  knowledge  of  sacred 
science,  large  enough  for  the  defence  of  the  Christian 
dogmas  against  all  the  assaults  of  heresy  and  infidelity. 
The  whole  future  scope  of  the  Friars  Preachers  was  in 
the  mind  of  Dominic  at  the  moment  of  their  first  founda- 
tion.    That  it  was  so  is  evinced  by  his  first  step  after 


COMMENCEMENT   OF    THE    ORDER.  53 

assembling  these  six  brethren  in  the  house  of  Peter  Cel- 
lani.  He  explained  to  them  the  extent  and  nature  of  his 
design;  and  showed  them  that,  in  order  to  carry  it  out 
and  fit  themselves  for  the  task  of  teaching  truth,  they 
must  first  learn  it.  Now  it  so  happened  that  there  was 
then  in  Toulouse  a  celebrated  doctor  of  theology,  named 
Alexander,  whose  lectures  were  greatly  admired  and  fre- 
quented. It  was  to  him  that  Dominic  resolved  to  intrust 
his  little  company.  On  the  same  morning  Alexander  had 
risen  very  early,  and  was  in  his  room  engaged  in  study, 
when  he  was  overcome  by  an  unusual  and  irresistible  in- 
clination to  sleep.  His  book  dropped  from  his  hand,  and 
he  sank  into  a  profound  slumber.  As  he  slept  he  seemed 
to  see  before  him  seven  stars,  at  first  small  and  scarcely 
visible,  but  which  increased  in  size  and  brightness,  till 
they  enlightened  the  whole  world.  As  day  broke  he 
started  from  his  dream,  and  hastened  to  the  school  where 
he  was  to  deliver  his  usual  lecture.  Scarcely  had  he 
entered  the  room  when  Dominic  and  his  six  companions 
presented  themselves  before  him.  They  were  all  clad 
alike,  in  the  white  habit  and  surplice  of  the  Augustinian 
canons,  and  they  announced  themselves  as  poor  brothers, 
who  were  about  to  preach  the  gospel  of  Christ  to  the 
faithful  and  heretics  of  Toulouse,  and  who  desired  first  of 
all  to  profit  by  his  instructions.  Alexander  understood 
that  he  saw  before  him  the  seven  stars  of  his  morning 
dream ;  and  many  years  after,  when  the  order  had  indeed 
fulfilled  the  destiny  predicted,  and  had  covered  Europe 
with  the  fame  of  its  learning,  he  himself  being  then  at  the 
English  court,  related  the  whole  circumstances  with  an 
almost  fatherly  pride,  as  having  been  the  first  master  of  the 
Friars  Preachers. 

These  first  steps  of  the  brethren  were  marked  by  the 
bishop,  Fulk  of  Toulouse,  with  unmixed  satisfaction.  The 
piety  and  fervour  displayed  by  them,  and  their  exact  fol- 
lowing in  the  footsteps  of  Dominic,  for  whom  he  had 
ever  entertained  a  peculiar  reverence,  determined  him  to 
give  the  infant  order  the  support  of  his  powerful  protec- 
tion. With  the  consent  of  his  chapter  he  assigned  the 
sixth  part  of  the  tithes  of  the  diocese  for  their  support, 


54  LIFE    OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

and  the  purchase  of  the  books  necessary  for  their  studies. 
The  document  in  which  he  makes  this  grant  will  not  be 
without  its  interest : — "  In  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  We  make  known  to  all  present  and  to  come,  that 
we  Fulk,  by  the  grace  of  God  the  humble  minister  of  the 
see  of  Toulouse,  desiring  to  extirpate  heresy,  to  expel 
vice,  to  teach  the  rule  of  faith,  and  recall  men  to  a  holy 
life,  appoint  Brother  Dominic  and  his  companions  to  be 
preachers  throughout  our  diocese;  who  propose  to  go  on 
foot,  as  becomes  religious,  according  to  evangelical  poverty, 
and  to  preach  the  word  of  evangelical  truth.  And 
because  the  workman  is  worthy  of  his  hire,  and  we  are 
bound  not  to  muzzle  the  mouth  of  the  ox  who  treadeth 
out  the  corn,  and  because  those  who  preach  the  gospel 
shall  live  by  the  gospel,  we  desire  that,  whilst  preaching 
through  the  diocese,  the  necessary  means  of  support  be 
administered  to  them  from  the  revenues  of  the  diocese. 
Wherefore,  with  the  consent  of  the  chapter  of  the  church 
of  S.  Stephen,  and  of  all  the  clergy  of  our  diocese,  we 
assign  in  perpetuity  to  the  aforesaid  preachers,  and  to 
others  who,  being  moved  by  zeal  for  God  and  love  for  the 
salvation  of  souls,  shall  employ  themselves  in  the  like 
work  of  preaching,  the  sixth  part  of  the  tenths  destined 
for  the  building  and  ornamenting  all  the  parochial 
churches  subject  to  our  government,  in  order  that  they 
may  provide  themselves  with  habits,  and  whatsoever  may 
be  necessary  to  them  when  they  shall  be  sick,  or  be  in 
need  of  rest.  If  anything  remain  over  at  the  year's  end, 
let  them  give  it  back,  that  it -may  be  applied  to  the  adorn- 
ing of  the  said  parish  churches,'  or  the  relief  of  the  poor, 
according  as  the  bishop  shall  see  fit.  For  inasmuch  as  it 
is  established  by  law,  that  a  certain  part  of  the  tithes 
shall  always  be  assigned  to  the  poor,  it  cannot  be  doubted 
that  we  are  entitled  to  assign  a  certain  portion  thereof  to 
those  who  voluntarily  follow  evangelical  poverty  for  the 
love  of  Christ,  labouring  to  enrich  the  world  by  their  ex- 
ample and  heavenly  doctrine;  and  thus  we  shall  satisfy 
our  duty  of  freely  scattering  and  dividing,  both  by  our- 
selves and  by  means  of  others,  spiritual  things  to  those 
from  whom  we   receive   temporal   things.     Given   in   the 


HIS   SECOND   VISIT   TO   ROME.  55 

year  of  the  Word  Incarnate  1215,  in  the  reign  of  Philip 
king  of  France,  the  principality  of  Toulouse  being  held 
by  the  Count  de  Montfort."  Neither  was  .De  Montfort 
wanting  in  a  like  liberality  tow ards  the  young  order.  He 
had  already  made  many  grants  to  the  house  of  La  Prouillc, 
and  in  this  year  we  find  him  making  over  the  castle 
and  lands  of  Oassanel  to  the  use  of  Dominic  and  hi3 
companions. 

In  the  autum  of  the  same  year  Fulk  of  Toulouse  set 
out  for  Rome,  to  attend  the  approaching  council  cf  the 
Lateran,  and  Dominic  was  his  companion.  Eleven  years 
had  passed  since  his  first  visit  in  company  with  Diego: 
they  had  been  years  of  hard  and  solitary  labour,  and  the 
work,  the  plan  of  which  had  even  then  been  formed 
within  his  mind,  was  now  but  just  developing  into  actual 
existence.  Most  surely  he  had  within  his  soul  the  prin- 
ciple of  a  far  higher  strength  than  mere  human  enthu- 
siasm, or  he  might  well  have  been  daunted,  as  coming  for 
the  second  time  within  sight  of  the  eternal  city,  the  forty- 
six  years  of  his  life  lay  before  him,  so  full  of  patient 
work,  and,  as  it  seemed,  blessed  with  so  little  fruit.  And 
something  more  than  human  enthusiasm  was  needed,  to 
look  forward  to  the  task  of  the  future — the  task  of  teach- 
ing and  reforming  a  world ;  whilst  all  the  materials  which 
he  had  as  yet  gathered  for  the  struggle  were  to  be  found 
in  the  six  unknown  and  unlettered  companions  whom  he 
had  left  behind  him  at  Toulouse. 

Innocent  III.  still  filled  the  Papal  chair,  and  the  Council 
of  Lateran  formed  almost  the  closing  scene  of  a  Ponti- 
ficate which  must  be  held  as  one  of  the  greatest  ever 
given  to  the  Church.  On  the  11th  of  November,  1215, 
nearly  500  bishops  and  primates,  above  800  abbots  and 
priors,  and  the  representatives  of  all  the  royal  houses  of 
Europe,  met  in  that  ancient  and  magnificent  church,  the 
mother  church  of  Rome  and  of  the  world.  Few  councils, 
save  that  of  Trent,  have  higher  claims  on  our  venera- 
tion ;  for  in  it  were  defined  some  of  the  highest  articles  of 
Catholic  faith.  The  Albigenses,  like  so  many  other  here- 
tical sects,  were  the  involuntary  means  of  drawing  forth 
an  explicit  declaration  of  the  Church's  doctrine  and  disci- 


56  LIFE   OF  S.   DOMINIC. 

pline,  and  eliciting  regulations  of  reform  <ind  Christian  ob- 
servance, which  have  probably  contributed  more  than  any 
other  to  the  well-being  of  the  whole  ecclesiastical  body, 
as  well  as  to  each  individual  member  thereof.  We  allude 
to  the  decrees  concerning  the  nature  of  the  Sacraments, 
and  in  particular  of  the  Holy  Eucharist,  and  to  the  esta- 
blishment of  those  two  binding  obligations  of  yearly  con- 
fession and  communion,  which,  whilst  they  do  indeed 
attest  the  lamentable  decay  from  primitive  fervour  which 
could  have  rendered  such  regulations  necessary,  yet  placed 
a  barrier  against  farther  relaxation  which  no  future 
age  has  been  able  to  overstep.  This  council  has  always 
called  forth  the  bitterest  rancour  from  the  supporters  of 
heresy  ;  a  result  which  was  but  natural,  considering  the 
vigour  and  success  with  which  ii  not  only  opposed  itself 
to  the  evils  which  existed  at  the  time,  but,  with  an  asto- 
nishing spirit  of  discernment,  provided  defences  for  the 
future,  which  have  lost  nothing  of  their  power  and  stabi- 
lity even  at  the  present  day.  In  fact,  the  singular  energy 
displayed  by  this  celebrated  council,  and  the  very  nature 
of  its  decrees,  are  a  sufficient  proof  of  the  state  in  which 
the  world  and  the  Church  were  then  found.  There  was 
everywhere  a  decay  and  a  falling  off.  Old  institutions 
were  waxing  effete,  and  had  lost  their  power;  whilst  in- 
dications were  everywhere  visible  of  an  extraordinary  acti- 
vity and  restlesness  of  mind,  which  was  constantly  break- 
ing out  into  disorder  for  want  of  channels  wto  which  it 
might  be  safely  guided.  Europe  had  takm  some  cen- 
turies to  struggle  through  the  barbarism  whi«h  had  fallen 
on  her  after  the  breaking  up  of  the  Roman  Empire.  As 
the  waters  of  that  great  deluge  subsided,  life  mme  back 
by  degrees  to  the  submerged  world,  and  just  at  this  period 
was  quickening  into  a  vitality  which,  in  the  s»?-eeeding 
century,  was  manifested  in  what  we  might  caU  a  luxuri- 
ance of  growth.  It  was  just  one  of  those  j?inc*.wes  in 
the  world's  history,  when  God  is  wont  to  raise  w>  preat 
men  who  lay  their  hands  on  the  human  elements  «f  con- 
fusion, and  fashion  them  into  shape.  And  it  is  na+-  too 
much  to  reckon  among  these  the  founder  of  the  INfrai 
Praachers. 


COUNCIL   OF     LATERAN.  57 

As  yet  the  Church  possessed  only  the  more  ancient, 
forms  of  monasticism,  with  some  institutes  of  later  creation, 
which  had,  however,  but  a  limited  object,  or  a  merely 
local  iufluence;  for  the  Friars  Minor,  though  they  pre- 
ceded the  Preachers  by  several  years,  could  not  as  yet  be 
said  to  have  been  formally  established  as  a  religious  order. 
Dominic's  idea  included  a  much  wider  field  than  any  of  the 
more  modern  founders  had  attempted.  He  had  designed 
an  order  for  preaching  and  teaching ;  which  for  that  pur- 
pose should  apply  itself  to  the  study  of  sacred  letters, 
with  the  express  object  of  the  salvation  of  souls.  But 
preaching  and  teaching  had  hitherto  been  considered  the 
peculiar  functions  of  the  episcopate,  and  one  of  the  de- 
crees of  this  very  council  of  Later  an,  after  enumerating 
the  evils  flowing  from  the  neglect  or  inability  of  the 
bishops  in  respect  to  these  offices,  empowers  them  to 
choose  fit  and  proper  persons  in  each  diocese  to  discharge 
the  "  holy  exercise  of  preaching"  in  thei*  stead.  This 
decree,  however,  in  nowise  contemplated  the  establish- 
ment of  any  body  of  persons  exercising  the  ofiice  as  an  in- 
dependent right,  or  in  any  other  way  than  as  deputies  to 
the  bishop,  and  the  plan  was,  therefore,  one  full  of 
novelty,  and,  as  it  seemed,  of  difficulty  and  even  danger. 
But,  apart  from  every  other  consideration,  we  may  ob- 
serve in  it  its  admirable  adaptation  to  the  peculiar  wants 
and  feelings  of  the  time.  The  world  was  like  an  un- 
trained, untaught  child,  just  rising  into  manhood,  and 
ready  to  learn  anything.  It  wanted  teachers,  and  whilst 
the  want  was  unsatisfied,  it  made  them  for  itself.  During 
the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries,  one  wild  sect  after 
another  had  risen,  and  counted  its  followers  by  thousands, 
with  scarcely  any  other  reason  for  its  success  than  the 
favour  which  was  ready  to  attach  to  a  popular  leader. 
Dominic  determined  on  nothing  less  than  to  give  them 
truth  in  a  popular  form,  and  from  the  mouths  of  popular 
teachers ;  he  felt  that  it  had  too  long  been  buried  in  the 
cloister  or  the  hermit's  cell,  and  that  the  time  was  come 
for  the  world  also  to  have  evangelists.  In  short  whilst 
his  idea  was  directly  aimed  at  the  guidance  and  taming 
of  the  wild  spirit  of  the  day,  it  had  in  it  not  a  little  of  the 


58  LIFE   OF  S.   DOMINIC. 

prevailing  tone  of  enterprise  and  enthusiasm.     It  was  the 
very  chivalry  of  religion. 

His  reception  by  the  fathers  of  the  council,  and  by  the 
Pope  himself,  was   cordial  and  flattering.     Met  as   they 
were,  in  a  great  measure,  to  discuss  the  questions  which 
had  arisen   out   of   the   state   of  the   French   provinces, 
Dominic's  name,  and  the  part  he  had  taken  during  the 
last  ten  years,  were  not  unknown  and  unappreciated   by 
them.      Before   the  formal  opening  of  the  council,  Pope 
Innocent  granted   him   an    apostolic   brief,  by   which   he 
received  the  convent  of  Prouille  under  the  protection  of 
the  pontifical   see,  and  confirmed  the  grants  made  to  it. 
But  when  the  plan  for  the  foundation  of  the  order  was  laid 
before   him,  its   novelty   and  the  vastness   of  its   design 
startled  him.     It  seemed  to  encroach  on  the  privileges  of 
the   episcopate,  and  its  boldness  seemed   dangerous  at  a 
moment  when  men's  minds  were  so  powerfully  agitated. 
The  troubles  of  the  Waldenses  were  fresh  in  his  mind,  a 
sect   which   had   grown   out  of  the  simple  abuse  of  this 
same  office  of  preaching,  when  usurped  by  men  without 
learning  or  authority.     The  Church,  in  short,  was  jealous 
of  innovation,  and   had  just   ruled,  in   the  council  then 
sitting,  that  no  more  new  orders  should  be  introduced  or 
allowed.    In  the  face  of  this  fresh  regulation,  it  certainly  re- 
quired no  small  degree  of  boldness  and  confidence  to  pre- 
sent the  scheme  of  a  new  foundation  for  approbation,  and 
to  perseverve  in  the  request ;  yet  Dominic  did  so,  and.  the 
result  proved  not  only  the  strength  of  his  confidence,  but 
the  source  from  whence  it  had  been  derived.     Five  years 
previously,  when  Francis  of  Assisi  had  visited  Rome  to 
solicit  the  approbation  of  his  infant  order  from  the  same 
Pope,  the  like  objections  and  difficulties  had  been  raised ; 
and  we  are  assured  that,  on  both  occasions,  they  were  re- 
moved by   a  similar  interposition  of  Divine   Providence. 
Pope  Innocent,  doubtful  as  to  the  reply  he  should  grant, 
saw,  in  a  vision  of  the  night,  the  Lateran  Basilica  about  to 
fall,  and  Dominic   supporting  it  on   his   shoulders.      An 
exactly  similar  dream  had  before  decided  him  to  listen  to 
the  petition  of  S.  Francis;    and  it  is  probable  that  the 
coincidence   of  the  two  visions  had  an  additional  weight 


The  pope  approves  the  order.      59 

in  determining  him  on  this  occasion  to  favour  that  of 
Dominic. 

Yet  the  language  of  the  council  was  too  strong  to  be 
entirely  evaded ;  it  was  as  follows : — "  In  order  that  the 
too  great  diversity  of  religious  orders  be  not  a  cause  of 
confusion  in  the  Church  of  God,  we  strictly  prohibit  that 
any  one  do  for  the  future  form  any  new  order ;  whoever 
desires  to  become  a  religious,  let  him  do  so  in  one  of  those 
already  approved.  In  like  manner,  if  any  one  desire  to 
found  a  new  religious  house,  let  him  be  careful  that  it 
observe  the  rule  and  constitutions  of  one  of  the  approved 
orders."  Not,  therefore,  to  act  in  positive  contradiction 
to  a  principle  so  recently  and  distinctly  laid  down,  Inno- 
cent sent  for  the  servant  of  God,  and,  after  commending 
his  zeal,  and  assuring  him  of  his  approval  of  the  design, 
he  desired  him  to  return  to  France,  that,  in  concert  with 
his  companions,  he  might  choose  one  out  of  the  ancient 
rules  already  approved,  which  should  seem  to  them  the 
best  fitted  for  their  purpose.  When  the  selection  was 
made  he  was  to  return  to  Rome,  with  the  assurance  of 
receiving  from  the  apostolic  see  that  confirmation  which 
he  desired. 

Besides  this  encouragement  and  promise  of  future  pro- 
tection, Innocent  was  the  first  who  bestowed  on  the  order 
the  name  it  has  ever  since  borne.  The  circumstances 
under  which  he  did  so  were  a  little  singular,  and  have 
been  preserved  with  unusual  exactness.  Shortly  after 
granting  the  above  favourable  answer  to  the  prayer  of 
Dominic,  he  had  occasion  to  write  to  him  on  some 
matters  connected  with  the  subject,  and  desired  one  of 
his  secretaries  to  despatch  the  necessary  orders.  When 
the  note  was  finished,  the  secretary  asked  to  whom  it 
should  be  addressed.  "  To  Brother  Dominic  and  his 
companions,"  he  replied;  then,  after  a  moment's  pause, 
he  added,  "  No,  do  not  write  that ;  let  it  be,  '  To  Brother 
Dominic,  and  those  who  preach  with  him  in  the  country 
of  Toulouse;'"  then,  stopping  him  yet  a  third  time,  he 
said,  "  Write  this,  '  To  Master  Dominic  and  the  Brothers 
Preachers.' "  This  title,  though  cot  at  first  formally  given, 
by  his  successor   Honorius  in  the  bulls  of  confirmation,, 


60  LIFE   OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

was,  as  we  shall  see,  afterwards  adopted,  and  has  always 
continued  to  be  used.  It  was  one  to  which  Dominic  himself 
was  attached,  and  which  he  had  always  assumed.  So  early 
as  the  June  of  1211,  when  he  was  in  the  midst  of  his 
solitary  missionary  labours  in  Languedoc,  we  find  a 
document  bearing  his  seal,  attached  to  which  are  these 
words,  "The  seal  of  Brother  Dominic,  Preacher?'' 

The  object  of  his  visit  to  Rome  was  now  fully  accom- 
plished; yet  he  did  not  return  to  Languedoc  until  the 
spring  of  the  following  year.  The  council  still  sat,  and 
it  is  probable  that  he  was  present  at  those  deliberations 
concerning  the  future  settlement  of  the  French  provinces, 
which  terminated  in  the  formal  declaration  that  Raymond 
of  Toulouse  had  forfeited  his  rights,  and  in  the  definitive 
transfer  of  them  to  the  Count  de  Montfort.  But  we  do 
not  feel  that  these  transactions  require  any  further  notice 
in  a  biography  of  S.  Dominic.  His  connection  with  the 
history  of  the  Albigensian  struggle  was  now  at  an  end; 
henceforth  he  was  to  belong,  not  to  Languedoc  or  to 
France  alone,  but  to  the  world.  During  his  stay  in  Rome 
his  first  acquaintance  with  S.  Francis  was  formed  under 
the  following  circumstances.  One  night,  being  in  prayer, 
he  saw  the  figure  of  our  Lord  in  the  air  above  his  head, 
with  the  appearance  of  great  anger,  and  holding  three 
arrows  in  his  hand,  with  which  he  was  about  to  strike  the 
world  in  punishment  of  its  enormous  wickedness.  Then 
the  Blessed  Virgin  prostrated  herself  before  him,  and  pre- 
sented two  men  to  Him  whose  zeal  should  convert  sinners, 
and  appease  His  irritated  justice.  One  of  these  men  he 
recognised  as  himself;  the  other  was  wholly  unknown  to 
him.  The  next  day,  entering  a  church  to  pray,  he  saw 
the  stranger  of  his  vision,  dressed  in  the  rough  habit  of  a 
poor  beggar,  and  recognising  him  as  his  companion  and 
brother  in  the  work  to  which  both  were  destined  by  God, 
he  ran  to  him,  and,  embracing  him  with  tears,  exclaimed, 
"You  are  my  comrade,  you  will  go  with  me;  let  us  keep 
together,  and  nothing  shall  prevail  against  us."  This 
was  the  beginning  of  a  friendship  which  lasted  during  the 
remainder  of  their  lives.  From  that  time  they  had  but 
one  heart  and  one  soul  in  God;  and  though  their  orders 


HIS   MEETING   WITH   S.    FRANCIS.  61 

remained  separate  and  distinct,  each  fulfilling  the  work 
assigned  to  it  by  Divine  Providence,  yet  a  link  of  fra- 
ternal charity  ever  bound  them  together :  "  brought  forth 
together,"  in  the  words  of  Blessed  Humbert,  "by  our  holy 
mother  the  Church,"  they  felt  that  "God  had  destined 
them  from  all  eternity  to  the  same  work,  even  the  salva- 
tion of  souls."  In  the  following  century  the  storm  of 
persecution  bound  these  two  orders  yet  closer  together; 
the  blows  aimed  at  the  one  fell  on  the  other,  and  when 
they  eventually  triumphed  over  their  enemies,  the  de- 
fence which  so  successfully  silenced  all  attacks  came  from 
the  lips  of  the  two  greatest  doctors  of  either  order, 
S.  Thomas  and  S.  Bonaventure;  men  who  revived  in  their 
own  day  the  friendship  and  the  saintliness  of  their  two 
great  patriarchs.* 

In  the  Life  of  S.  Francis  it  is  said,  that  Angelus  the 
Carmelite,  afterwards  a  martyr  of  his  order,  was  likewise 
in  Rome  at  this  time,  and  preached  in  the  church  of 
S.  John  Lateran,  in  the  presence  of  the  two  holy  founders, 

•::-  The  friendship  between  the  two  orders  was  not  a  mere  matter 
of  sentiment.  It  was  considered  of  sufficient  importance  to  be 
noticed  in  their  very  rule.  In  the  Chapter  of  Paris,  held  in  1236, 
the  following  was  ordained,  and  still  continues  in  the  Constitutions 
of  the  Friars  Preachers : — 

"We  declare  that  all  our  Priors  and  Brethren  should  have  a 
diligent  care  that  they  always  and  everywhere  bear,  and  heartily 
preserve,  a  great  love  to  the  Friars  Minor;  let  them  praise  them 
with  their  lips,  and  by  their  works  kindly  receive  and  courteously 
treat  with  them;  and  be  solicitous  as  far  as  they  can  to  be  at  peace 
with  them.  And  if  any  do  contrary,  let  him  be  gravely  punished. 
And  let  the  Brethren  beware,  lest  they  ever  speak  otherwise  than 
well  of  them,  either  among  themselves  or  to  any  of  their  friends. 
And  if  any  one,  under  the  show  of  friendship,  shall  report  any  evil 
of  the  aforesaid  Friars,  our  brethren  must  not  be  easy  in  believing 
it;  but  shall  rather  endeavor  as  iar  as  possible  to  excuse  them. 
And  if  it  chance  that  the  Friars  Minors  shall  have  provoked  us  by 
speaking  ill  of  us,  nevertheless  let  us  in  nowise  publicly  contend 
with  them." 

It  i3  in  the  same  spirit  that  we  find  it  ordered,  that  there 
shall  always  be  made  a  commemoration  of  "  Our  holy  father 
S.  Francis"  in  the  little  office  of  S.  Dominic.  (Such  is  the 
aifectionate  title  given  by  the  Friars  Preachers  to  the  founder 
of  the  order  of  Minors.'  Whilst  within  the  last  twelvemonth 
(1855)  the  entire  office  of  both  holy  Patriarchs  has  been  ordered 
to  be  recited  by  the  brethren  of  the  two  orders  on  their  respective 
feasts. 


62  LIFE  OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

predicting  their  future  greatness,  and  the  extension  of 
their  orders.  Some  of  the  Franciscan  writers  place  this 
meeting  of  Dominic  and  Francis  in  the  following  year, 
when  both  were  again  present  in  Rome  for  the  confirma- 
tion of  their  institutes,  but  the  Dominican  authorities  are 
generally  agreed  in  giving  it  as  occurring  during  this  visit. 
The  difference  is  of  no  great  consequence,  and  might  easily 
arise  without  throwing  any  discredit  on  the  authenticity 
of  the  circumstance  itself,  which  rests  on  the  authority  of 
one  of  S.  Francis's  constant  companions,  and  has  never 
been  called  in  question. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


Dominic's  return  to  France.  The  brethren  assemble  at  Prouille 
to  choose  a  rule .  The  spirit  of  the  Order.  Some  account  of 
the  first  followers  of  Dominic.    The  Convent  of  S.  Komain. 

The  Gouncil  of  Lateran  lasted  but  three  weeks,  and 
broke  up  at  the  end  of  November,  1215.  In  the  early 
spring  of  the  following  year,  Dominic  found  himself  once 
more  among  his  brethren  at  Toulouse.  In  the  short 
period  of  his  absence  their  numbers  had  increased  from 
seven  to  sixteen,  and  we  may  well  imagine  the  mutual 
joy  of  their  meeting.  He  explained  to  them  the  result 
of  his  expedition  to  the  Holy  See,  and  the  necessity 
which  now  lay  on  them  to  apply  themselves  to  the  choice 
of  a  rule.  For  this  purpose  he  appointed  Notre  Dame 
de  Prouille  as  the  place  of  meeting,  where  two  other  of 
the  brothers,  Fr.  William  de  Claret  and  Fr.  Noel,  who 
had  care  of  the  religious  of  Prouille,  were  waiting  for 
them.  It  was  April  when  they  all  gathered  in  this 
mother-house  of  the  order;  and  after  earnest  prayer 
and  invocation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  they  agreed  in 
choosing  the  rule  of  S.  Austin ;  a  rule  to  which  Dominic 


THE  RULE   CHOSEN.  63 

himself  had  long  been  bound,  ever  since  he  had  worn  the 
habit  of  Canon  Regular,  and  which  from  its  simplicity 
was  the  better  fitted  for  their  purpose,  as  being  sus- 
ceptible of  nearly  any  development  which  the  peculiar 
objects  of  their  institute  might  require.  In  choosing 
this  rule,  Dominic  fulfihed  the  obligation  imposed  on 
him  by  tbe  Pope,  and  escaped  the  censure  of  the  late 
council,  while  at  the  same  time  he  was  left  free  to 
expand  the  general  principles  of  religious  life  laid  down 
by  S.  Anstin  into  particular  constitutions  of  his  own. 

He  had  not  been  the  first  who  had  made  a  singular  use 
of  this  rule.  If  we  compare  the  plan  and  work  of  S. 
Dominic  with  that  of  S.  NorbeA  who  had  preceded  him 
by  nearly  a  century,  we  shall  Sid  a  very  striking  simi- 
larity. S.  Norbert's  rule  was  a  reformation  of  that  of  the 
Regular  Canons.  In  its  design  he  departed  from  the  or- 
dinary line  of  the  more  ancient  forms  of  monasticism,  and 
set  before  him  as  his  object  active  missionary  labours  for 
the  salvation  of  souls.  His  work  was  preaching.  He 
himself  preached  all  over  the  provinces  of  France  and 
Flanders,  and  obtained  faculties  from  Pope  Gelasius  II. 
enabling  him  to  preach  wherever  he  choose.  A  mere  cur- 
sory glance  would  induce  us  to  judge  the  spirit  of  these 
two  orders  identical;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  in 
many  points  of  interior  discipline,  Dominic  took  the  Pre- 
monstratensian  rule  as  his  guide.  Yet  we  see  clearly, 
that,  whatever  similarity  existed  between  them,  they  were 
not  the  same;  they  were  called  to  different  works,  and 
were  to  fill  a  different  place  in  the  Church  of  God.  Reli- 
gious orders,  we  must  never  forget,  are  the  result  of 
Divine  vocation,  not  the  mere  creations  of  human  intelli- 
gence ;  and  those  vocations  they  accomplish  in  an  infinite 
variety  of  ways,  which  human  intelligence  could  never 
have  planned  or  executed :  they  are  like  the  varieties  of 
plants  and  animals  in  nature,  whose  mingled  distinctions 
and  similarities,  multiplied  in  so  many  thousand  forms, 
attest  the  authorship  of  an  infinite  Creator.  We  cannot 
but  be  struck  by  this  supernatural  element  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  order  of  Friars  Preachers.  As  a  mere  human 
work,  critics  might  find  so  much  to  say  against  it.     If 


61  LIFE   OF  S.  DOMINIC. 

Domimic  only  wanted  to  join  the  active  and  contemplative 
lives  together,  S.  Norbert  had  done  it  before  him;  why- 
could  he  not  be  a  Premonstratensian  ?  They  followed  the 
same  rule,  and  wore  the  same  habit.  Or  if  he  and  S.  Francis 
really  had  the  same  thoughts,  and  were  raised  up  for  the 
same  purpose,  why  did  they  not  amalgamate,  and  then  their 
strength  would  have  been  concentrated,  instead  of  being 
divided  ?  These  seemed  reasonable  objections ;  they  were 
doubtless  some  of  those  which  encountered  the  holy 
founder  at  his  first  outset,  for  it  is  the  way  in  which  the 
world  is  wont  to  criticize  the  Church.  It  is  certainly  the 
way  in  which  in  our  own  day  we  do  so,  as  though  she 
were  a  vast  piece  of  ingenious  machinery,  which  we  have 
a  right  to  take  to  pieces  and  improve,  as  we  like  best. 
Wc  often  loose  sight  of  the  fact,  that  great  men  and  great 
institutions,  popes  and  councils  and  religious  orders,  are 
but  instruments  in  the  hands  of  God,  who  works  them 
like  puppets  without  their  will,  for  the  accomplishment  of 
His  own  designs.  The  order  of  Friars  Preachers  had  a 
place  to  fill  in  the  Universal  Church,  never  yet  filled  by 
any  religious  body,  and  in  which  it  has  since  had  no  rival, 
even  in  the  period  of  its  decay.  Only  a  hundred  years 
from  its  first  foundation,  an  Emperor*  who  was  its  avowed 
enemy,  and  who  during  his  whole  life  had  persecuted  it 
to  the  last  extremity,  witnessing  its  remarkable  contest 
against  the  alleged  errors  of  a  Pontiff,  f  whom  it  had  been 


-::-  Louis  of  Bavaria 

t  John  XXII.  This  pontiff  was  reported  to  have  given  utterance, 
as  a  private  individual,  to  some  opinions  of  doubtful  orthodoxy, 
concerning  the  state  of  souls  previous  to  the  day  of  j  udgment.  He 
himself,  in  a  brief  which  death  alone  prevented  him  from  publishing 
in  the  consistory  he  had  summoned  for  the  purpose,  made  the  most 
distinct  and  formal  protest  of  hia  entire  and  hearty  accordance  with 
the  doctrine  of  the  Church.  (Rohrbacher,  H,  sioire  de  V Eglise  Catho- 
lique,  torn,  xx-  p.  227.)  Whether  or  no  he  ever  did  hold  the  opinions 
in  question,  the  subject  gave  rise  to  a  cohtroversjr,  in  which  the 
Friars  Preachers  took  a  distinguished  part ;  particularly  an  English- 
man, by  name  F.  Thomas  Walent,  who  is  described  as  "  a  man  of 
great  zeal,  great  heart,  and  great  learning :"  with  daring  courage 
he  preached  in  the  very  presence  of  the  Pope,  denouncing  the 
supposed  error  in  no  measured  terms,  and  suffered  for  his  boldness 
by  a  long  imprisonment.    The  favourers  of  the  disputed  point  had 


SPIRIT   OP   THE   ORDER.  65 

foremost  to  defend  when  the  aggressions  of  an  Antipope 
divided  the  allegiance  of  the  faithful,  pronounced  this 
celebrated  verdict,  wrested  from  him,  as  it  were,  against 
his  will :  "  The  order  of  Preachers  is  the  order  of  truth.11 
This  is  the  place  which  it  has  ever  filled;  which  in 
God's  Providence,  we  trust  it  ever  will  fill ;  and  it  was  the 
place  for  which  Dominic  determined  it  should  be  fitted 
from  the  very  first.  His  plan  was  threefold.  The  first  and 
primary  idea  of  the  order  was  labour  for  the  salvation  of 
souls ;  but  in  setting  this  before  him  as  his  principal  aim,  he 
was  not  willing  to  abandon  anything  of  the  religious  cha- 
racter which  attached  to  the  elder  institutes  of  the  Church. 
In  short,  the  whole  of  his  design*is  expressed  in  that  pas- 
sage of  the  constitutions  where  it  is  said  that  "  the  Order 
of  Preachers  was  principally  and  essentially  designed  for 
preaching  and  teaching,  in  order  thereby  to  communicate 
to  others  the  fruits  of  contemplation,  and  to  procure  the 
salvation  of  souls."  Dominic  well  knew  that  to  sanctify 
others  the  teachers  should  first  be  sanctified  themselves, 
and  he  was  content  to  follow  the  guidance  of  antiquity  in 
choosing  the  means  of  that  sanctification  whose  fruits 
were  to  be  imparted  to  the  world.  Those  means  had  ever 
been  considered  as  best  found  in  the  rigorous  discipline 
of  the  cloister  :  in  silence  and  poverty,  prayer,  fasting, 
and  a  life  of  penance,  and  the  secret  and  magical  influences 
of  community  life.  He  therefore  included  in  his  rule  all 
the  essential  characteristics  of  monasticism,  whilst  at  the 
same  time  a  certain  freedom  and  expansiveness  was  mingled 
with  the  strictness  of  its  discipline,  which  enabled  it  ever 
to  bend  and  mould  itself  so  as  to  meet  its  great  and  pri- 
mary intention,  the  salvation  of  souls.  In  the  constitu- 
tions of  the  order,  accordingly,  we  find,  mixed  with  the 
usual  enactments  of  regular  discipline,  certain  powers  of 
dispensation,  to  be  used  when  a  literal  and  unbending  ad- 
herence to  the  letter  of  the  rule  would  embarrass  and 
impede  the  brethren  in  their  more  active  duties.  There 
are   also  express   constitutions,  both  for  the   ordering  of 

sufficient  influence  to  cause  considerable  suffering  and  disgrace  to 
the  order,  which,  however,  never  relaxed  an  inch  in  its  obstinate 
defence  of  the  teaching  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

P 


66  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC, 

their  own  studies,  and  the  regulation  of  sucli  schools  as 
they  might  open  for  the  teaching  of  others;  so  that  all 
their  active  and  apostolic  undertakings,  instead  of  being 
departures  from  the  rule,  should  be  provided  for  in  it,  and 
partake  of  its  own  spirit  and  discipline.  We  may,  there- 
fjre,  consider  contemplation,  apostolic  labour  for  souls, 
and  the  especial  cultivation  of  theological  science,  as  the 
three  objects  which  Dominie  sought  to  unite  in  the  con- 
stitution of  his  order. 

With  what  success  he  laboured,  and  with  what  fidelity 
his  children  have  adhered  to  the  character  first  imprinted 
on  their  institute  by  the  hand  of  its  founder,  it  is  for  his- 
tory to  show.  The  ord£r  of  Friars  Preachers  has  never 
lost  anything  of  the  monastic  spirit,  whilst  at  the  same 
time  it  has  never  so  exclusively  adhered  to  it  as  to  lose 
sight  of  the  active  duties  imposed  on  it  by  its  vocation  to 
apostolic  labour.  The  two  characters  have  ever  been  pre- 
served entire,  and  it  has  presented  to  the  world,  through- 
out six  centuries,  the  spectacle  of  a  body  acting  in  the 
most  perfect  unity  of  government  and  design,  producing 
at  one  and  the  same  time  the  highest  examples  of  con- 
templative saints,  apostolic  missionaries,  and  theological 
writers.  If  we  are  dazzled  by  the  fame  of  its  doctors,  we 
have  but  to  turn  over  the  page  of  the  Dominican  chro- 
nicles, and,  in  exchange  for  the  successes  of  a  university 
contest,  we  shall  find  some  talc  of  saintly  life,  redolent 
with  the  sweetness  of  evangelic  simplicity.  Its  saints  are 
not  all  great  men  in  the  world's  reckoning;  they  are 
gathered  from  all  ranks  ;  from  the  shepherds  of  the 
Spanish  mountains,  the  blind  beggars  of  Italy,  or  the 
slaves  of  America,  as  well  as  from  princes  and  doctors  of 
the  church.  Or  if,  whilst  dwelling  on  this  side  of  the  vast 
scene  which  it  unfolds  to  us,  absorbed,  it  may  be,  in  the 
seraphic  revelations  of  S.  Catherine,  or  the  sweet  mys- 
ticism of  the  German  Suso,  we  are  tempted  to  think  that 
its  genius  grew  to  be  contemplative  only,  and  that  in  time 
it  shrank  from  close  contact  with  the  world  for  which  it 
was  called  to  labour,  other  pages  lie  open  before  us  rich 
with  tales  of  the  strife  of  martyrs.  Poland,  Hungary, 
Ethiopia,   America,   and  China — these,    and    many  other 


HIS    FIRST    FOLLOWERS.  67 

countries,  have  tlie  children  of  Dominic  evangelized  by 
their  preaching  and  watered  with  their  blood.  Nor  is  this 
all;  it  has  constantly  been  true  to  its  vocation  as  the 
organ  of  popularizing  truth.  It  has  borrowed  from  the 
spirit  of  the  age  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  age.  When 
the  world  was  accustomed  to  gather  science  from  the  lips 
of  living  orators,  it  gave  out  its  companies  of  preachers 
and  lecturers.  When  books  became  more  popular  vehicles 
of  teaching,  there  was  no  want  of  Dominican  writers. 
Nay,  it  knew  how  to  use  other  and  lighter  kinds  of  in- 
struction, and  laid  a  strong  hand  upon  the  magic  of  the 
arts.  How  many  a  sermon  has  Angelico  left  us  in  the 
colours  which  still  charm  us  on  the  walls  of  his  convent ; 
and  after  him,  painting  still  remained  the  heritage  of  the 
order  which  gave  him  birth,  and  in  its  hands  has  never 
ceased  to  be  Christian.  And  if  we  cannot  say  of  the 
greatest  poet  of  the  middle  ages,  that  he  was  himself  a 
child  of  Dominic,  it  must  at  least  be  confessed  that  he 
found  means  to  clothe  his  verse  in  the  spirit  of  a  theology 
whose  master  and  teacher  was  S.  Thomas.  Pre-eminently 
the  order  of  the  church,  it  has  shared  her  destinies,  as  it 
has  clung  to  her  teaching.  Like  her,  it  has  never  lost  its 
unity;  we  do  not  indeed  pretend  to  say  of  either,  that 
time  has  never  seen  their  children  waxing  cold  and  un- 
faithful ;  but  with  both,  the  power  of  reformation  has  ever 
been  found  to  exist  within  their  own  bosoms.  The  only 
occasion  when  the  order  of  Preachers  can  ever  be  said  to 
have  endured  a  divided  government,  was  the  unhappy 
period  when  it  shared  in  a  schism  which  rent  the  allegi- 
ance of  the  church  herself;  when  one  regained  unity  of 
obedience,  it  was  restored  also  to  the  other.  After  all  its 
sufferings  we  constantly  see  it  renewing  its  strength  like 
the  eagle;  and  even  in  our  day,  we  can  scarcely  fail  to 
observe  that  astonishing  vitality  and  power  of  fresh  develop- 
ment, which  after  six  centuries  bursts  out  as  vigorous  as 
ever,  attesting  its  principle  of  eternal  youth. 

Before  closing  this  chapter,  we  must  give  a  brief  ac- 
count of  those  brethren  who  joined  with  S.  Dominic  in 
the  deliberations  of  Prouille,  and  who  with  him  may  be 
considered  the  first  founders  and  propagators  of  the  order. 
*2 


68  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

They  were,  as  we  have  said,  sixteen  in  number.  Matthew 
of  France  we  have  before  mentioned  in  relating  the  cir- 
cumstances of  his  first  acquaintance  with  S.  Dominic, 
when  prior  of  S.  Vincent's  church  at  Castres;  Bertrand 
of  Garrigues,  a  little  village  in  the  province  of  Narbonne, 
was  the  constant  companion  of  the  holy  father  in  all  his 
journeys,  and  a  most  faithful  imitator  of  his  life  and  auste- 
rities. It  is  of  him  that  it  is  related,  how,  being  con- 
stantly weeping  for  his  sins,  S.  Dominic  reproved  him, 
and  enjoined  him  rather  to  weep  and  pray  for  the  sins  of 
others.  This  circumstance  throws  light  upon  another 
story,  very  commonly  repeated,  but  which  we  venture  to 
think  has  not  always  been  fully  understood.  It  is  thus 
related  by  Surius : — "  This  Brother  Bertrand,  a  holy  man, 
and,  as  we  have  said,  the  first  prior  provincial  of  Provence, 
was  accustomed  every  day  to  celebrate  mass  for  sins; 
and  being  asked  by  one  Brother  Benedict,  a  prudent  man, 
why  he  so  rarely  celebrated  mass  for  the  dead,  and  so  fre- 
quently for  sins,  he  replied,  '  We  are  certain  of  the  salva- 
tion of  the  faithful  departed,  whereas  we  remain  tossed 
about  in  many  perils.'  '  Then,'  said  Brother  Benedict,  <  if 
there  were  two  beggars,  the  one  with  all  his  limbs  sound, 
and  the  other  wanting  them,  which  would  you  compas- 
sionate the  most  ?'  And  he  replied,  '  Him  certainly  who 
can  do  least  for  himself.'  'Then,'  said  Benedict,  'such 
certainly  are  the  dead,  who  have  neither  mouth  to  con- 
fess nor  hands  to  work,  but  ask  our  help ;  whereas  living 
sinners  have  mouths  and  hands,  and  with  them  can  take 
care  of  themselves.  And  when  Bertrand  was  not  per- 
suaded in  his  mind,  on  the  following  night  there  appeared 
to  him  a  terrible  figure  of  a  departed  soul,  who  with  a 
bundle  of  wood  did  in  a  wonderful  manner  press  and 
weigh  upon  him,  and  waking  him  up  more  than  ten  times 
that  same  night,  did  vex  and  trouble  him.  Therefore  on 
the  following  morning  he  called  Benedict  to  him,  and 
told  him  all  the  story  of  the  night ;  and  thence  religiously, 
and  with  many  tears,  going  to  the  altar,  he  offered  the 
holy  sacrifice  for  the  departed,  and  from,  that  time  very 
frequently  did  the  same.  This  is  the  same  Brother  Ber- 
trand, a  most  holy  and  venerable  man,  to  whom  S.  Dominic 


HIS   FIRST    FOLLOWERS.  69 

enjoined  that  lie  should  not  weep  for  his  own,  but  for 
others'  sins;  for  he  well  knew  that  he  was  wont  to  do 
excessive  penance  for  his  sins.  And  this  charge  of  the 
Blessed  Dominic  had  such  an  effect  on  the  soul  of  Brother 
Bertrand,  that  from  that  time,  even  if  he  wished,  he  was 
not  able  to  weep  for  his  own  sins ;  but  when  he  mourned 
for  those  of  others,  his  tears  would  flow  in  great 
abundance." 

The  next  of  S.  Dominic's  companions  whom  we  find 
noticed,  are  the  two  whom  we  have  before  mentioned  as 
residing  at  Prouille,  where  they  had  care  of  the  nuns; 
"William  de  Claret  of  Pamiers,  and  Brother  Noel,  a  native 
of  Prouille.  The  former  of  these  had  been  one  of  the 
first  missioners  among  the  Albigenses,  in  the  time  of 
Diego  of  Azevedo.  After  remaining  in  the  habit  of  the 
Friars  Preachers  for  twenty  years,  he  left  the  order  and 
joined  the  Cistercians.  Not  content  with  this,  he  even 
attempted  to  induce  the  nuns  to  follow  his  example,  but, 
it  is  unnecessary  to  say,  without  success.  Then  there 
was*  Brother  Suero  Gomez,  a  Portuguese  of  noble  birth, 
who  left  the  royal  court  to  join  the  army  of  De  Mont- 
fort  against  the  Albigenses.  He  was  one  of  those  who 
witnessed  the  deliverance  of  the  fourteen  English  pil- 
grims, and  who  assisted  in  bringing  them  to  shore, 
and  shortly  afterwards  passed  to  the  company  of  Domi- 
nic; he  is  said  to  have  been  distinguished  for  many 
virtues,  and  was  the  founder  of  the  order  in  Portugal. 
Michael  de  Fabra,  a  Spaniard  of  noble  blood,  was 
the  first  lecturer  on  theology  in  the  order,  and  held 
that  office  in  the  convent  of  S.  James,  at  Paris.  He 
was  also  a  celebrated  preacher,  and  accompanied  King 
James  of  Arragon  in  his  expedition  against  Majorca, 
where  it  is  said,  "  So  great  was  the  esteem  had  of  him, 
that  during  the  fifteen  months  that  the  siege  lasted 
nothing  was  done  in  the  camp,  either  by  soldiers  or 
captains,  save  what  was  by  him  ordered."*  Such  was 
the  reverence  in  which  he  was  held,  that  after  the 
conquest  of  the  island  he  was  looked  on  as  the  father 
and  ruler  of  it;  and  his  name  was  always  invoked  next 
*  Michaele  Pio  Uomini— illustri. 


70  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

after  God  and  the  Blessed  Virgin.  Divers  stories  of  his 
apparitions  and  supernatural  assistance  to  the  Christian 
soldiers  are  to  be  found;  and  the  Moors  were  themselves 
accustomed  to  say,  that  it  was  Mary  and  Brother  Michael, 
not  the  Spaniards,  who  conquered  the  island. 

Another  Michael,  called  De  Uzero,  was  afterwards 
sent  by  Dominic  to  establish  the  order  in  Spain.  Brother 
Dominic,  called  sometimes  the  little,  on  account  of  his 
stature,  or  by  others,  Dominic  the  second,  (and  confused 
by  some  writers  with  Dominic  of  Segovia,*  or  the  third,) 
had  also  been  one  of  the  holy  patriarch's  first  companions 
in  the  missions  of  Toulouse.  "He  was,"  says  his  his- 
torian, "  little  of  body,  but  powerful  of  soul,  and  of  great 
sanctity."  He  too  was  a  wonderful  preacher,  and  cleared 
the  court  of  king  Ferdinand,  "  as  it  were  in  a  moment,"  of 
all  buffoons,  flatterers,  and  other  evil  company. 

Next  comes  Lawrence  the  Englishman.  He  is  said  to 
have  been  one  of  the  pilgrims  whom  Dominic  saved  from 
death,  as  before  related.  By  many  he  is  called  Blessed 
Lawrence,  a  title  he  seems  to  have  deserved  by  his 
sanctity  and  his  gifts  of  prophecy  and  miracles.  Then 
there  was  Brother  Stephen  of  Metz,  a  Belgian,  "  a  man 
of  rare  abstinence,  the  frequent  macerator  of  his  own 
body,  and  of  burning  zeal  for  the  eternal  salvation  of  his 
neighbour ;"  and  Brother  John  of  Navarre,  whom  S. 
Dominic  had  brought  with  him  to  Toulouse  from  Borne, 
and  there  given  the  habit.  He  it  was  to  whom  S.  Domi- 
nic gave  the  celebrated  lesson  on  holy  poverty,  which  we 
shall  notice  in  its  proper  place.  "He  was  then  imper- 
fect," says  his  biographer,  "but  afterwards  made  many 
journeys  with  S.  Dominic,  and  by  familiar  conversation 
with  him  learnt  how  to  be  a  saint,  which  indeed  he 
became."  He  was  one  of  those  who  gave  his  evidence 
on  the  canonization  of  the  holy  father.     Peter  of  Madrid 

*  Many  authors  tell  us,  that  "Dominic  the  little  "  was  the  first 
Provincial  ofLombardy,  and  afterwards  of  Spain  ;  and  that  he  was 
likewise  called  "  Dominic  of  Segovia.  It  is  clear,  however,  from 
the  account  of  Michaele  Pio,  that  the  two  Dominica  were  distinct 
persons,  and  that  Dominic  of  Segovia."  the  Provincial  ofLombardy, 
was  not  the  same  as  the  early  companion  of  the  holy  patriarch  of 
his  order. 


CONVENT   OF  S.   ltOMAIN.  71 

is  the  next  name,  but  we  find  no  particulars  of  his  life. 
The  two  citizens  of  Toulouse,  Peter  Cellani  and  Thomas, 
have  already  been  mentioned.  Oderic  of  Normandy  was 
a  lay  brother,  and  accompanied  Matthew  of  France  to 
Paris,  where  he  was  known  and  reverenced  for  his 
"  perfection  of  sanctity."  Lastly,  there  was  Manez 
Gusman,  S.  Dominic's  own  brother,  "  a  man  of  great 
contemplation,  zealpus  for  souls,  and  illustrious  for 
sanctity;"  the  only  one  of  the  sixteen  who  has  received 
the  solemn  beatification  of  the  Church.  He  had  a  great 
gift  of  preaching,  although  his  attraction  was  wholly  to 
contemplation.  Michaele  Pio  gives  us  his  character  in  a 
few  expressive  words ;  "  Above  all  things  he  loved  quiet 
and  solitude,  taking  most  delight  in  a  contemplative  life, 
in  the  which  he  made  marvellous  profit ;  and  in  living 
alone  with  God  and  himself,  rather  than  with  others.  He 
had  the  government  of  the  nuns  who  were  established 
at  Madrid.  Sincerity  and  simplicity  shone  in  him  above 
all  things ;  and  many  miracles  declared  to  the  world  how 
dear  he  was  to  heaven." 

As  soon  as  the  little  council  of  Prouille  had  concluded 
its  deliberations,  Dominic  returned  to  Toulouse.  There 
fresh  demonstrations  of  the  friendship  of  Fulk  awaited 
him.  With  the  consent  of  his  chapter  he  made  him  the 
grant  of  three  churches :  Saint  Eomain  at  Toulouse,  and 
two  others;  one  at  Pamiers,  and  another,  dedicated  to 
our  Lady,  near  Puy-Laurens.  These  in  time  had  each  a 
convent  attached  to  them;  but  that  of  S.  Remain  was 
commenced  immediately,  for  Peter  Cellani's  house  was 
no  longer  adapted  to  their  increased  numbers.  A  very 
humble  cloister  was  therefore  built  contiguous  to  the 
church,  and  over  it  were  placed  the  cells  of  the  brethren. 
This  was  the  first  monastery  of  the  order.  The  friars  left 
it  in  1232,  in  order  to  remove  to  a  larger  and  more 
magnificent  building.  The  convent  of  S.  Romain  was 
poor  enough,  and  soon  completed ;  the  brethren  went 
into  it  in  the  summer  of  the  same  year,  1216 ;  and  the 
house  of  Peter  Cellani  became  the  future  residence  of  the 
Inquisitors. 

Previous  to  his  last  departure  to  Rome,  Dominic  had, 


72  LIFE    OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

with  the  concurrence  of  his  brethren,  made  over  all  the 
lands  and  property  granted  to  him  and  his  brethren,  to 
the  nuns  of  Prouille.  Afterwards  he  had  accepted,  as 
it  seems  a  little  reluctantly,  the  revenues  provided  by 
the  generosity  of  Fulk  of  Toulouse.  But  though  he 
himself  felt  attracted  towards  the  entire  observance  of 
poverty  in  its  strictest  form,  the  mendicity  which  was 
afterwards  made  a  law  of  the  order  was  not  among  those 
constitutions  drawn  up  at  Prouille  and  immediately 
adopted.  It  was  reserved  for  the  test  of  experience, 
and  for  future  deliberations.  Nevertheless  poverty  was 
scarcely  less  dear  to  Dominic  than  it  was  to  Francis;  he 
honoured  it  in  his  own  person,  and  was  vigorous  in  seeing 
it  observed  by  those  he  governed;  and  we  are  assured  that 
every  detail  of  the  convent  of  S.  Roniain  was  executed 
from  his  orders,  and  under  his  own  eye,  so  as  to  insure 
its  conformity  to  the  strictest  requirements  of  his  favourite 
virtue. 


C0O- 


CHAPTER  X. 

Dominic's  third  visit  to  Rome.  Confirmation  of  the  Order  by 
Honorious  III.  Dominic's  vision  in  S.  Peter's  He  is  appointed 
master  of  the  Sacred  Palace.    Ugolino  of  Ostia. 

As  soon  as  the  convent  of  S.  Romain  had  been  taken 
possession  of  by  the  brethren,  Dominic  prepared  to  return 
to  Rome,  to  lay  the  result  of  his  consultation  with  the 
other  brethren  before  the  Sovereign  Pontiff.  Before  he 
did  so,  the  news  arrived  of  the  death  of  Innocent  III., 
which  took  place  at  Perugia  on  the  16th  of  July,  and  of 
the  election  on  the  day  following  of  Cardinal  Savilli  as  his 
successor,  under  the  title  of  Honorious  III.  This  seemed  in- 
deed a  severe  blow  to  the  hopes  of  the  young  order,  for  In- 
nocent had  been  a  sure  and  faithful  friend,  and  it  might  well 
cause  no  small  anxiety  to  have  to  treat  with  a  new  Pontiff 
for  the  confirmation  of  an  unknown  and  untried  institute. 
He,  however,  set  out,  leaving  Bertrand  of  Garrigues  to 


CONFIRMATION   OF   THE   ORDER.  73 

govern  the  convent  in  his  absence,  whilst  he  himself  made 
his  third  visit  to  the  Roman  capital.  lie  arrived  there  in 
.the  month  of  September,  and  found  the  Pope  still  absent 
at  Perugia ;  this  caused  him  some  delay,  and  during  the 
interval  he  lived  a  poor  and  unknown  life,  having  no  other 
lodging  at  night  than  in  the  Churches.  It  seemed  at  first 
as  if  many  difficulties  would  stand  in  the  way  of  the  suc- 
cess of  his  enterprise ;  for  the  new  Pontiff  was  engaged 
in  various  troublesome  negotiations,  and  his  court  was  full 
of  dissensions.  Dominic's  resource  was  constant  prayer ; 
and  in  spite  of  all  obstacles,  he  obtained  the  two  bulls 
confirming  the  foundation  of  the  order  of  the  22nd  of 
the  following  December.  The  confirmation  of  the  Order 
of  Friars  Minor  was  made  at  the  same  time,  S.  Francis 
being  at  that  time  in  Rome;  and  by  very  many  the 
meeting  between  him  and  Dominic  is  said  to  have  taken 
place  at  this  period,  and  not  on  the  occasion  of  their 
former  visit. 

The  first  bull  given  by  Honorius  is  of  considerable 
length:  it  grants  a  variety  of  privileges  and  immunities, 
and  confirms  the  order  in  the  possession  of  all  the  lands, 
ehurches,  and  revenues  with  which  it  had  been  endowed 
by  Fulk  and  other  benefactors.  The  second  bull  is  much 
shorter,  and  we  insert  it  for  the  sake  of  a  remarkable 
expression  which  it  contains  prophetic  of  the  future  des- 
tinies of  the  order : — "  Honorius,  bishop,  servant  of  the 
servants  of  God,  to  our  dear  son  Dominic,  prior  of  S. 
Roniain  at  Toulouse,  and  to  your  brethren  who  have 
made  or  shall  make  profession  of  regular  life,  health  and 
apostolic  benediction.  We,  considering  that  the  brethren 
of  the  order  will  he  the  champions  of  the  faith  and  true 
lights  of  the  world,  do  confirm  the  order  in  all  its  lands 
and  possessions  present  and  to  come,  and  we  take  under 
our  protection  and  government  the  order  itself,  with  all  its 
goods  and  rights." 

It  was  at  Santa  Sabina,  then  the  apostolic  palace,  that 
these  two  bulls  were  given  on  the  same  day.  In  neither 
of  them,  however,  did  the  new  order  receive  the  title 
which  had  been  originally  given  to  it  by  Innocent  III., 
and  which  was  so  dear  to  Dominic,  that  of  Preachers.     In 


74  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC 

a  third  bull,  however,  dated  the  26th  of  January,  1217, 
the  omission  is  made  up.  It  begins  as  follows : — "Honoriusr 
bishop,  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  to  his  dear  son  the 
prior  and  brethren  of  S.  Romain,  Preachers  in  the  country 
of  Toulouse,  health  and  apostolic  benediction."  Mean- 
while Dominic,  whose  mission  at  Rome  was  accomplished 
as  soon  as  the  two  first  bulls  had  been  granted,  was 
anxious  to  return  to  Toulouse,  but  was  detained  at  Rome 
by  the  command  of  the  Pontiff,  who  had  conceived  a  high 
esteem  and  affection  for  him.  Day  and  night,  therefore, 
he  commended  his  children  and  their  work  to  God,  and 
specially  in  those  watches  which  he  still  continued  to 
keep  in  the  churches,  which  were  his  only  lodging.  That 
of  the  Holy  Apostles  was  the  one  he  loved  the  best,  and  it 
was  whilst  fervently  praying  for  his  order  at  their  tomb, 
that  he  was  granted  a  second  vision  to  encourage  and 
console  him.  This  was  the  appearance  of  the  apostles 
S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul,  the  first  of  whom  gave  him  a  staff, 
and  the  second  a  book,  saying  these  words:  "Go  and 
preach,  for  to  this  ministry  thou  art  called."  Then  he 
seemed  to  see  his  children  sent  forth  two  and  two  into 
the  world,  preaching  to  all  nations  the  word  of  God. 
Some  writers  add  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  seen  to  rest 
on  his  head  in  the  form  of  a  fiery  tongue,  and  that  from 
that  time  he  was  singularly  confirmed  in  grace,  and  freed 
from  many  temptations;  others,  that  he  ever  aftewards 
bore  about  with  him  the  book  of  the  Gospels  and  of  the 
Epistles  of  S.  Paul.  In  all  his  journeys,  too,  he  con- 
stantly carried  a  stick,  an  unusual  thing  which  he  proba- 
bly did  in  memory  of  this  vision.  His  delay  at  Rome,  if 
tedious  to  himself,  was  greatly  profitable  to  others.  Lent 
found  him  still  there ;  and  during  that  holy  season  he 
took  occasion  frequently  to  exercise  his  office  of  preaching. 
His  success  induced  the  Pope  to  appoint  him  to  explain 
the  Epistles  of  S.  Paul  in  the  sacred  palace,  before  the 
court  and  cardinals.  An  ancient  author  of  the  noble 
house  of  Colonna,  himself  a  Dominican,  tells  us  that 
"  Many  came  from  all  parts  to  hear  him,  both  scholars 
and  doctors,  and  all  gave  him  the  title  of  Master."  Other 
authors,  among  whom  is  Flaminius,  relate  that  the  origin 


CARDINAL   tTGOLINO.  75 

of  tliis  appointment  of  S.  Dominic  was  as  follows:  Ho 
was,  they  say,  greatly  displeased,  on  the  occasion  of  his 
visits  to  the  palace,  to  see  the  followers  of  the  cardinals 
idling  about  the  ante-chambers,  playing  at  games  of 
chance,  whilst  their  masters  were  engaged  on  the  business 
of  the  Church  ;  and  that  he  suggessed  to  the  Pope 
whether  some  means  could  not  be  devised  for  enter- 
taining them  religiously  and  usefully,  by  the  explanation 
of  the  Scriptures.  The  Pope,  agreeing  to  his  views,  laid 
the  charge  on  himself,  and  instituted  the  office  of  Master 
of  the  Sacred  Palace,  which  continues  even  to  our  own 
day,  and  is  always  conferred  on  one  of  the  Dominican 
order.  This  office  is  not  simply  a  titular  one ;  its  duties 
are  considerable,  and  of  no  small  importance,  including 
the  censorship  of  all  books  published  in  Rome ;  and  its 
possessor  has  been  described  as  the  Pope's  theologian, 
acting  as  his  domestic  adviser  in  all  matters  of  a  theolo- 
gical character. 

Another  of  those  dear  and  honourable  friendships  which 
so  embellish  the  life  of  Dominic,  was  formed  during  this 
visit  to  the  Roman  capital.  Ugolino  Conti,  cardinal 
bishop  of  Ostia,  and  afterwards  successor  to  Honorius, 
under  the  title  of -Gregory  IX.,  already  the  friend  and  pro- 
tector of  Francis  and  of  the  Friars  Minor,  now  first  made 
the  acquaintance  of  his  brother  and  rival  in  sanctity.  He 
was  advanced  in  age,  but  a  man  of  warm  and  enthusiastic 
feelings,  who  ever  counted  the  close  personal  ties  which 
bound  him  to  those  two  great  men  as  among  the  greatest 
privileges  of  his  life.  It  was  at  his  house  that  Dominic 
met  another  younger  friend,  William  de  Montferrat,  who 
was  spending  Easter  with  Ugolino.  The  charm  of  the 
saint's  intercourse,  which  indeed  seems  to  have  been  of  a 
very  peculiar  and  winning  kind,  so  captivated  him  that  he 
was  induced  to  take  the  habit  of  his  order.  He  has  left 
us  the  account  of  the  whole  matter  in  his  own  words  : — 
"It  is  about  sixteen  years,"  he  says,  "  since  I  went  to 
Rome  to  spend  Lent  there,  and  the  present  Pope,  who 
was  then-  Bishop  of  Ostia,  received  me  into  his  house.  At 
that  time  Brother  Dominic,  the  founder  and  first  master 
of  the  order  of  Preachers,  was   at  the  Roman  court,  and 


76  LIFE   OP   S.   DOMINIC. 

often  visited  my  lord  of  Ostia.  This  gave  me  an  oppor- 
tunity of  knowing  him ;  his  conversation  pleased  me,  and 
I  began  to  love  him.  Many  a  time  did  we  speak  together 
of  the  eternal  salvation  of  our  own  souls,  and  those  of  all 
men.  I  never  spoke  to  a  man  of  equal  perfection,  or  one 
so  wholly  taken  up  with  the  salvation  of  mankind, 
although  indeed  I  have  had  intercourse  with  many  very 
holy  religious.  I  therefore  determined  to  join  him,  as 
one  of  his  disciples,  after  I  had  studied  theology  at  the 
university  of  Paris  for  two  years,  and  it  was  so  agreed  be- 
tween us ;  and  also,  that  after  he  had  established  the 
future  discipline  of  his  brethren,  we  should  go  together  to 
convert,  first,  the  pagans  of  Persia  or  of  Greece,  and  then 
those  who  live  in  the  southern  countries."  Once  more  we 
find  here  the  key-note  of  Dominic's  soul,  the  salvation  of 
souls,  which  "wholly  took  him  up;"  and  how  large  and 
magnificent  was  that  thought  of  going  first  to  convert 
Persia  and  Greece,  and  then  on  to  the  southern  world  ! 
He  had  the  very  soul  of  chivalry  under  his  friar's  tunic  ; 
and  we  can  well  imagine  the  charm  which  such  vast  and 
glowing  thoughts,  clothed  in  the  eloquence  which  was  all 
his  own,  must  have  exerted  over  the  minds  of  those  who 
listened  to  him.  He  endeavoured  also  to  persuade  Bar- 
tholomew of  Clusa,  archdeacon  of  Mascon  and  canon  •*£ 
Chartres,  one  of  his  own  penitents,  to  enter  the  new  order, 
for  he  clearly  discerned  that  such  was  God's  vocation  to 
his  soul.  Bartholomew,  however,  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  all 
he  said,  and  Dominic  predicted  that  many  things  would 
befall  him  in  consequence  of  his  resistance  to  grace,  which 
things,  he  himself  assures  us,  did  really  afterwards  happen 
to  him  ;  but  what  they  were  does  not  appear 

Among  the  incidents  of  his  life  at  Koine  during  this 
visit,  we  find  mention  of  several  active  works  of  mercy, 
both  spiritual  and  corporal.  Outside  the  walls  of  the  city 
there  resided  at  that  time  certain  recluses,  commonly 
called  Murati  from  their  habitation.  They  were  a  com- 
munity of  hermits ;  each  lived  in  a  poor  little  cell  separate 
one  from  the  other ;  in  which  they  were  inclosed,  never 
leaving  them ;  being  moved  to  this  singular  life  by  a  par- 
ticular spirit  of  mortification  and  solicitude.    Almost  every 


DISPERSION    OF    THE    COMMUNITY.  77 

morning,  after  celebrating  mass  and  reciting  the  Divine 
office,  Dominic  went  to  visit  them,  conversing  with  them 
on  holy  subjects,  and  exhorting  them  to  perseverance. 
He  was  also  accustomed  to  administer  to  them  the  sacra- 
ments of  penance  and  the  eucharist,  and  was,  in  short, 
what  would  be  now  called  their  director.  When  not 
engaged  in  these  duties,  of  in  the  public  exercise  of 
preaching,  he  was  to  be  found  in  the  churches,  where  he 
spent  his  nights. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Dominic  returns  to  Toulouse.  He  disperses  the  Community  of 
S.  Romain.  His  address  to  the  people  of  Languedoc.  Future 
affairs  of  the  Order  in  that  country. 

It  was  not  until  the  May  of  1217,  that  Dominic  was 
able  to  return  to  Toulouse.  His  return  was  very  wel- 
come to  his  children ;  yet  their  joy  was,  if  we  may  so  say, 
a  little  sobered,  when,  almost  immediately  on  his  arrival, 
after  gathering  them  together  and  addressing  to  them  a 
fervent  exhortation  on  the  manner  of  life  to  which  they 
now  stood  pledged,  he  announced  his  intention  of  break- 
ing up  the  little  community  as  yet  but  just  formed,  and 
scattering  its  members  to  different  countries.  The  plan 
seemed  the  height  of  imprudence;  all  joined  in  blaming 
it,  and  endeavouring  to  dissuade  him  from  it.  But 
Dominic  was  inexorable;  the  vision  which  he  had  seen 
beside  the  tomb  of  the  apostles  was  fresh  in  his  eye ;  their 
voice  yet  sounded  in  his  ear.  Fulk  of  Toulouse,  De 
Montfort,  the  archbishop  of  Narbonne,  and  even  his  own 
companions,  urged  him  to  pause,  but  nothing  would  stir 
him  from  his  purpose.  "  My  lords'  and  fathers,"  he  said, 
•'  do  not  oppose  me,  for  I  know  very  well  what  I  am 
about."  He  felt  that  their  vocation  was  not  to  one  place, 
but  for  all  nations ;  not  for  themselves  alone,  but  for  the 
Church  and  the  world.  "  The  seed,"  he  said,  "  will  fructify 
if  it  is  sown ;  it  will  ut  moulder  if  you  hoard  it  up."     Some 


78  LIFE    OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

little  time  he  gave  them  to  consider  if  they  could  submit 
to  his  determination,  with  the  alternative  otherwise  of 
abandoning  the  order.  But  his  followers,  whatever  had 
been  their  feelings  on  the  subject,  had  too  profound  a 
veneration  for  his  person  and  character  to  oppose  their 
judgments  to  his,  and  soon  yielded  the  point.1  The  event 
showed  how  entirely  his  resolution  had  been  guided  by 
the  spirit  of  God. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  preparation  which  he  made  for  this 
dispersion  of  his  children,  he  showed  how  great  was  his 
anxiety  for  the  preservation  among  them  of  the  observ- 
ance and  spirit  of  their  rule.  The  convent  of  Toulouse 
he  designed  to  be  the  model  which  was  to  be  followed  in 
all  later  foundations,  and  made  several  regulations  to  ren- 
der it  more  perfect  in  its  arrangements.  He  thought  it 
well  that  the  brethern  should  from  time  to  time  meet  to- 
gether for  mutual  counsel  and  encouragement.  With 
this  idea  lie  caused  two  large  additional  rooms  to  be  built, 
one  for  containing  the  habits  of  the  community,  the  other 
for  the  brethren  to  assemble  in ;  for  until  now  they,  like 
the  Cistercians,  had  had  no  rooms  but  their  cells  and  the 
refectory.  These  two  additions  to  their  little  convent 
added  materially  to  the  comfort  of  those  who  were  to  be 
left  to  inhabit  it,  and  were  doubtless  the  more  welcome 
to  them  as  proofs  of  the  watchful  thoughtfulness  of  their 
father.  He  was  very  earnest  in  enjoining  upon  them  the 
strict  observance  of  that  part  of  S.  Austin's  rule  which 
forbids  all  private  appropriation  of  the  smallest  article. 
Even  in  the  ehurch  itself  he  desired  that  the  spirit  of 
holy  poverty  should  never  be  forgotteu  ;  and  though  he 
constantly  insisted  on  its  being  kept  a  mirror  of  cleanli- 
ness, yet  he  forbade  all  elegancies  and  curiosities,  and 
even  ordered  that  the  sacred  vestments  should  not  be 
made  of  silk.  As  to  the  cells  of  the  brethren,  the 
poverty  he  enjoined  was  absolute :  a  little  cane  bedstead, 
and  a  miserable  bench  were  the  only  furniture  he  allowed. 
They  had  no  doors,  in  order  that  the  superior  might 
always  be  able  to  see  the  brethren  as  he  passed  along; 
the  dormitory  resembled,  as  closely  as  possible,  that  of 
an  hospital. 


HIS   ADDRESS   TO   THE   PEOPLE.  79 

Blessed  Jordan  tells  us,  that  it  was  whilst  engaged  in 
these  regulations,  that  the  holy  father  had  the  vision  which 
foretold  to  him  the  death  of  the  Count  De  Montfort.  He 
seemed  to  see  an  immense  tree,  in  whose  branches  a 
great  quantity  of  birds  had  taken  refuge;  the  tree  was 
luxuriant  and  beautiful,  and  spread  out  its  arms  over  the 
earth :  suddenly  it  fell,  and  the  birds  all  took  flight,  and 
Dominie  was  given  to  understand,  that  this  represented 
the  fall  of  him  who  had  been  known  in  a  special  manner 
as  the  proteetor  and  "faiher  of  the  poor."  This  was 
accomplished  in  the  following  year,  when  the  two  Ray- 
monds regained  possession  of  Toulouse,  and  the  Count 
de  Montfort  fell  at  the  siege  of  that  city.  It  is  probable 
that  his  knowledge  of  the  approaching  return  of  war 
hastened  Dominic  in  the  execution  of  his  designs.  He 
fixed  the  feast  of  the  Assumption  for  the  assembly  of  all 
his  brethren  at  Notre  Dame  de  Prouille,  previons  to 
their  departure  for  their  different  missions;  and  these 
missions  were  to  include  Paris,  Bologna,  Rome,  the  two 
convents  of  Toulouse  and  Prouille,  and  Spain ;  whilst  he 
himself  was  letting  his  beard  grow,  with  the  intention, 
when  things  were  fairly  put  in  train  in  Europe,  of  setting 
out  to  the  countries  of  the  infidels.  And  all  this  was  to 
foe  accomplished  with  sixteen  followers :  such  was  the 
largeness  of  Dominic's  confidence  in  Grod. 

On  the  appointed  day,  the  little  company  all  met  to 
keep  the  festival  of  the  Assumption  with  an  unusual 
solemnity  in  the  church  of  their  mother-house  of  Prouille. 
It  must  have  been  a  deeply  touching  spectacle  to  all 
present,  and  to  Dominic  himself  one  of  profound  and 
singular  emotion.  Great  numbers  of  persons  from  the 
surrounding  country,  who  knew  the  circumstances  which 
had  gathered  the  brethren  together,  came  to  witness  the 
ceremony  of  the  day  ;  among  them  was  De  Montfort 
himself,  and  several-  prelates,  all  anxious  to  ascertain  the 
final  determination  of  S.  Dominic  as  to  the  destination  of 
his  little  flock.  It  was  he  himself  who  offered  the  Holy 
Sacrifice,  and  who,  still  habited  in  the  sacred  vestments, 
preached  to  the  assembled  audience  in  language  some 
of  which   is  still  preserved   to  us.      We   are  compelled, 


80  LIFE   OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

from  the  severity  of  his  tone,  to  draw  conclusions  un- 
favourable to  the  people  of  Languedoc;  for  it  was  them 
whom  he  thus  addressed:  "Now  for  many  years  past," 
he  said,  "have  I  sounded  the  truths  of  the  Gospel  in 
your  ears,  by  my  preaching,  my  entreaties,  and  my 
prayers,  and  with  tears  in  my  eyes.  But,  as  they  are 
wont  to  say  in  my  country,  the  stick  must  be  used  when 
blessings  are  of  no  avail.  Lo !  princes  and  rulers  will 
raise  all  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  against  you;  and 
woe  be  unto  you !  they  will  kill  many  by  the  sword,  and 
lay  the  lands  desolate,  and  overthrow  the  walls  of  your 
cities,  and  all  of  you  will  be  reduced  to  slavery ;  and  so 
you  will  come  to  see,  that  where  blessings  avail  not,  the 
stick  will  avail."  These  dismal  announcements  were  too 
truly  fulfilled  when  the  army  of  the  French  king  was 
sent  against  the  people  of  Toulouse  ;  and  they  seem  to 
indicate  that  the  evils  under  which  the  unhappy  country 
had  so  long  laboured  had  produced  an  effect  which  not 
even  the  twelve  years  labour,  of  an .  apostle  had  been  able 
to  counteract  :  it  was  a  solemn  farewell  which  framed 
itself,  almost  unintentionally,  into  words  of  prophetic 
warning.  He  then  turned  to  his  own  brethren,  and 
reminded  them  of  the  first  origin  of  their  order,  the  end 
for  which  it  was  instituted,  and  the  duties  to  which  they 
stood  pledged.  Above  all,  he  exhorted  them  to  confidence 
in  God,  and  a  great  and  unflinching  courage,  always  to 
prepare  for  wider  and  wider  fields  of  labour,  and  to  be 
ready  to  serve  the  Church,  in  whatever  way  they  might 
be  called  to  work  for  the  conversion  of  sinners,  heretics, 
or  infidels.  His  words  had  an  extraordinary  effect  on 
those  who  listened  ;  any  lingering  feelings  of  dissatis- 
faction they  might  have  felt  were  dispelled  by  this 
appeal  to  the  heroism  of  their  natures.  Like  soldiers 
harangued  by  a  favourite  leader  on  the  battle-field,  they 
seemed  all  kindled  with  a  spark  of  his  own  chivalrous 
ardour,  and  were  impatient  to  be  led  on  to  the  enterprise 
which  awaited  them. 

But  another  ceremony  yet  remained  to  be  performed. 
When  Dominic  had  concluded  his  address,  the  sixteen 
brethren   knelt  before   him,  and  made  their  solemn  vow3 


AFFAIRS   OF   THE   ORDER.  31 

in  his  hands,  binding  themselves  to  the  three  obligations 
of  the  religious  state ;  for  until  then  they  had  been  bound 
to  him  by  no  other  tie  than  their  own  will.  The  nuns 
of  Prouille,  in  like  manner,  all  made  their  profession  on 
the  same  day,  adding  the  fourth  vow  of  inclosure.  When 
this  ceremony  was  over,  he  declared  to  each  of  them  the 
quarter  to  which  they  were  destined.  The  two  fathers, 
who  had  until  then  had  the  direction  of  the  convent  of 
Prouille,  were  to  remain  there  as  before,  whilst  Peter  Cel- 
lani  and  Thomas  of  Toulouse  were  to  continue  at  S.  Ro- 
main.  A  large  section  of  his  little  company  were  appointed 
for  the  establishment  of  the  order  in  Paris;  these  were 
Matthew  of  Prance,  Bertrand,  Oderic,  Manez  the  saint's 
brother,  with  Michel  Fabra  and  John  of  Navarre,  the 
last  of  whom  had  but  just  received  the  habit,  and  our 
own  countryman  Lawrence.  Stephen  of  Metz  he  reserved 
as  his  own  companion,  and  the  four  remaining  Spaniards 
were  sent  to  Spain.  Before  they  separated  to  their  dif- 
ferent parts,  Dominic  determined  to  provide  for  the  future 
government  of  the  order  in  case  of 'his  death  or  removal, 
for  he  still  cherished  the  secret  design  of  himself  depart- 
ing for  the  countries  of  the  infidels,  and  finding  perhaps 
a  martyr's  crown  among  them.  It  was  the  old  dream 
planned  so  long  ago  with  Diego  of  Azevedo,  and  never 
laid  aside.  He  therefore  desired  them  to  make  a  canoni- 
cal election  among  themselves  of  some  one  who  should 
govern  the  order  in  his  absence,  or  in  case  of  his  death. 
Their  choice  fell  on  Matthew  of  France,  who  received  the 
title  of  Abbot,  a  designation  never  continued  in  the  order ; 
after  his  death  the  brethren  were  content  with  the  title 
of  Master  for  him  who  held  the  chief  authority,  whilst 
the  other  superiors  were  called  priors  and  sub-priors, 
names  chosen  as  best  befitting  the  humility  of  their  state. 
This  election  being  finished,  Dominic  committed  the  bull 
of  confirmation  to  the  keeping  of  the  new  abbot,  that  it 
might  be  solemnly  published  in  the  capital  of  France,  and 
gave  them  a  parting  exhortation  to  keep  their  vows,  and 
be  diligent  in  founding  convents,  preaching  God's  word, 
and  following  their  studies;  and  so  dismissed  them  with 
his  blessing. 

G 


83  LIFE   OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

One  of  them,  and  one  only,  showed  evident  signs  of 
reluctance  to  obey.  This  was  the  newly-clothed  brother, 
John  of  Navarre.  He  strongly  shared  in  the  sentiments 
of  those  ecclesiastics  who  solemnly  condemned  the  holy 
patriarchs  for  imprudence.  He  ventured,  before  depart- 
ing, to  ask  for  a  little  money  for  his  expenses  on  the  way. 
The  request  seemed  reasonable ;  but  Dominic's  discern- 
ment saw  clearly  the  secret  feelings  of  distrust  and  dis- 
content which  prompted  it.  He  sharply  reproved  him, 
and  set  before  him  the  example  of  the  disciples  whom 
their  Lord  sent  forth,  "having  neither  scrip  nor  purse;" 
then,  quickly  exchanging  severity  for  the  paternal  tender- 
ness which  was  more  natural  to  him,  he  threw  himself  at 
his  feet,  and  with  tears  in  his  eyes  besought  him  to  lay 
aside  his  cowardly  fears,  and  to  arm  himself  with  a 
generous  trust  in  God's  Providence.  But  John  still  con- 
tinuing stubborn  in  his  view,  and  unconvinced  of  the 
practicability  of  travelling  two  hundred  miles  without 
funds,  Dominic  desired  them  to  give  him  twelve  pence, 
and  then  dismissed  him. 

We  are  told  that  some  Cistercians  who  were  present 
expressed  their  surprise  in  no  measured  terms,  that  he 
should  send  out  these  ignorant,  unlettered  boys  to  preach 
and  teach;  their  criticism  was  something  more  than  free, 
it  was  even  contemptuous.  Dominic  bore  the  officious 
remarks  with  the  equanimity  which  he  never  failed  to 
exhibit  on  such  occasions,  the  virtue  for  which  the  Church 
has  so  worthily  designated  him  "the  rose  of  patience." 
"What  is  it  you  say,  my  brothers,"  he  replied  with  his 
accustomed  sweetness;  "are  you  not  a  little  like  the 
Pharisees  ?  I  know,  nay  I  am  certain,  that  these  '  boys' 
of  mine  will  go  and  come  back  safe,  but  it  will  not  be  so 
with  yours."  As  for  himself,  when  his  little  flock  was 
dispersed,  he  still  lingered  awhile  at  Toulouse,  and,  be- 
fore he  left,  he  gave  another  token  of  his  disinterestedness 
and  magnanimity.  The  two  brethren  of  S.  Romain  be- 
came entangled  in  some  disputes  with  the  procurators  of 
the  bishop's  court,  about  the  portion  of  tithes  granted  to 
the  order  by  Pulk  of  Toulouse.  Dominic  settled  the 
matter  by  causing  an   instrument  to  be  executed   in   ac- 


DEATH  OF  I)E   MONTFORT.  83 

cordance  with  the  views  of  the  procurator,  without  further 
controversy;  this  paper  is  dated  the  11th  of  September, 
1217.  He  left  for  Italy  soon  after  its  execution,  but  not 
till  he  had  received  several  new  sons  into  his  order; 
amongst  these  were  Poncio  Samatan,  afterwards  the 
founder  of  the  convent  of  Bayonne;  Raymond  Falgaria, 
a  noble  of  the  neighbourhood,  and  successor  to  Fulk  in 
the  bishopric  of  Toulouse ;  and  Arnold  of  Toulouse,  first 
prior  of  the  convent  of  Lyons.  From  this  time  we  shall 
not  have  much  occasion  to  speak  of  Languedoc;  for,  in 
following  the  future  course  of  S.  Dominic's  life,  we  shall  be 
led  forward  to  other  countries ;  the  bright  star  which  had 
risen  in  Spain,  and  spent  its  long  meridian  in  France,  was 
to  shed  its  setting  splendour  over  the  fields  of  Italy. 

Simon  de  Montfort  perished  the  following  year  under 
the  walls  of  Toulouse,  as  foreseen  by  Dominic.  His  death, 
like  his  life,  was  that  of  a  brave  and  Christian  knight. 
The  victorious  arms  of  the  two  Raymonds  had  stripped 
him  of  the  greater  part  of  the  provinces  with  which  he 
had  been  invested;  and,  urged  to  a  last  effort  for  their 
recovery,  he  laid  siege  to  Toulouse  with  a  force  wholly 
unequal  to  the  enterprise.  It  was  sunrise  on  the  25th  of 
June,  when  word  was  brought  him  of  an  ambuscade  of  the 
enemy.  He  received  the  message  with  tranquillity;  and 
arming  himself  with  his  usual  composure,  he  went  to  hear 
mass  before  going  to  the  field.  Another  despatch  arrived 
in  the  middle  of  the  ceremony;  they  had  attacked  his 
machines  of  war,  would  he  not  hasten  to  their  defence? 
"  Leave  me !"  was  his  reply,  "  I  stir  not  till  I  have  seen  the 
sacrament  of  my  redemption!"  Yet  once  again  another 
messenger  rushed  into  the  church;  the  troops  could  hold 
out  no  longer;  he  would  surely  come  to  their  aid.  He 
turned  to  the  speaker  with  a  stern  and  melancholy  air: 
"I  will  not  go,"  he  said,  "till  I  have  seen  my  Saviour." 
He  knew  his  last  hour  was  at  hand ;  the  sadness  of  deep 
disappointment  was  in  his  heart,  but  he  surely  made  that 
day  a  solemn  offering  and  resignation  to  God  of  the  life 
whose  human  hopes  had  failed.  When  the  priest  elevated 
the  sacred  host,  De  Montfort  knelt,  and  uttered  the  words 
"  Nune  dimittis."     Then   he   went   out   to   the   scene  of 


84  '     LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

combat.  His  presence  had  its  wonted  efiect  on  his  fol- 
lowers, as  well  as  on  his  enemies.  The  men  of  Toulouse 
fled  back  to  the  city,  pursued  by  the  victorious  crusaders ; 
but  a  stone  from  the  wall  struck  their  gallant  leader  to 
the  ground;  and  smiting  his  breast  with  his  hand,  ho 
expired,  recommending  his  soul  to  God,  and  with  the 
name  of  Mary  on  his  lips. 

His  friendship  towards  the  order  of  Friars  Preachers 
survived  in  his  family.  One  of  his  daughters,  Amice,  or, 
as  the  Italians  sweetly  name  her,  Amicitia,  the  wife  of 
the  Seigneur  de  Joigny,  bore  so  peculiar  a  love  to  the 
children  of  Dominic  that  she  used  all  her  endeavours  to 
induce  her  only  son  to  take  the  habit.  He,  however,  fol- 
lowed the  army  of  S.  Louis  to  the  Holy  Land;  but  whilst 
detained  in  the  island  of  Cyprus,  he  was  taken  with  a 
mortal  sickness,  and  on  his  death-bed,  remembering  his 
mother's  prayers,  he  sent  for  the  friars  and  received  the 
habit  from  their  hands.  When  the  tidings  were  brought 
her,  she  gave  thanks  to  God,  and  on  the  death  of  her 
husband  resolved  to  enter  the  order  herself.  She  was 
constantly  repeating  the  words,  "  If  I  cannot  be  a  Friar 
Preacher,  I  will  at  least  be  one  of  their  sisters ;"  and  she 
succeeded,  after  much  opposition,  in  founding  the  convent 
of  Montaign,  where  she  herself  took  the  habit,  and  died 
in  odour  of  sanctity  about  the  year  1235. 

Toulouse,  the  nursery  of  the  Dominican  order,  con- 
tinued to  be  closely  linked  with  its  history  for  many  a 
year,  though  after  the  death  of  De  Montfort  we  hear  less 
of  the  triumphs  of  its  champions  than  of  the  sufferings  of 
its  martyrs.  Among  these  we  find  some  hardly  to  be 
passed  over  without  notice,  such  as  the  blessed  Francis 
of  Toulouse,  one  of  the  first  who  received  the  habit,  and 
whom  Taegius  calls  one  of  the  most  intrepid  preachers  of 
b*s  time :  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  heretics,  who  tor- 
mented him  in  every  way  that  more  than  pagan  barbarity 
could  suggest;  but  he  preached  through  it  all,  and  pro- 
claimed the  Catholic  faith.  Then  they  plaited  a  crown  c  f 
thorns,  and  placed  it  on  his  head ;  and  Francis  received  i  t 
joyfully,  counting  himself  unworthy  to  be  made  partaker 
in  one  of  the  sufferings  of  his  Lord ;  and  still,  as  the  bloai 


THE   MARTYRS   OF    TOULOUSE.  85 

streamed  down  his  face,  "he  confessed  and  denied  not," 
but  boldly  preached  the  word  of  God,  and  the  faith  of 
His  Church.  Then  they  shot  him  to  death  with  arrows ; 
and  so,  standing  like  Sebastian  with  his  face  to  his  ene- 
mies, and  with  that  glorious  crown  upon  his  brow,  he 
went  to  Christ.  This  was  in  1260;  a  few  years  previously 
Toulouse  had  witnessed  the  confession  of  others  of  the 
order,  among  whom  was  William  of  Montpellier  and  his 
companions.  They  were  all  of  the  convent  of  Toulouse, 
and  Count  Raymond,  the  successor  to  the  dominions  and 
the  heresy  of  the  Raymond  of  Dominic's  time,  enraged  at 
their  boldness  and  success  among  his  subjects,  tried  first 
to  starve  them  into  submission.  He  gave  orders  that 
none,  under  pain  of  death,  should  bring  any  meat  or  drink 
to  the  convent,  or  hold  any  communication  with  it,  and 
posted  guards  about  its  boundaries  to  see  his  orders  en- 
forced. But  angels  set  his  guards  at  defiance,  and  were 
seen  going  -to  and  fro  with  provisions,  so  that  no  man 
durst  hinder  them.  Then  he  drove  them  from  the  town, 
stripped  them  of  all  things  they  possessed,  and  condemned 
their  houses  to  be  burned :  this  did  not  disturb  them ;  they 
went  on  their  way,  singing  the  Creed  and  the  Salve 
Regina  with  joyful  countenances  as  they  left  the  city 
gates.  But  though  forced  to  retire,  they  soon  returned  to 
the  province,  and  everywhere  carried,  as  before,  the  light 
of  truth  among  the  people;  so  that  in  1242  Raymond 
determined  on  yet  more  violent  measures.  Being  then 
at  his  country  house  of  Avignette,  and  seated  at  his  ease 
at  the  window  of  his  private  room,  William,  with  ten  other 
companions,  some  of  his  own  order,  some  of  that  of  the 
Friars  Minors,  were  brought  before  him,  and  severely  tor- 
tured in  various  ways ;  Raymond  looking  on  and  enjoying 
the  scene.  And  whilst  his  eyes  were  satisfied  with  the 
spectacle  of  their  sufferings,  there  was  not  wanting  music 
for  his  ears,  if  indeed  it  were  of  a  kind  that  such  a  soul 
as  his  could  understand.  Under  the  very  knives  of  their 
torturers,  the  dying  martyrs  raised  a  sweet  harmony  with 
their  failing  breath ;  they  sang  clear  and  loud  the  canticle 
Te  Deum,  and  taught  their  murderers,  even  with  their 
expiring  voices,  that  the  triumph  of  that  hour  belonged 


86  LIFE   OF   S.   t)OMlNlC. 

to  tlieir  victims,  and  not  to  them,     This  happened  on  the 
vigil  of  the  Ascension,  1242. 

— c#o 

CHAPTER  XII, 

Dominic's  fourth  visit  to  Rome*     His  mode  of  travelling. 

The  October  of  the  year  1217  saw  Dominic  crossing 
the  Alps  on  foot,  for  the  fourth  time,  on  his  way  to  Home, 
in  company  with  Stephen  of  Metz,  A  considerable  ob- 
scurity hangs  over  this  journey.  According  to  an  ac- 
count sent  to  Rome  by  the  fathers  of  the  convent  of  SS. 
John  and  Paul  at  Venice,  it  was  at  that  city  that  he  first 
stopped,  having,  as  it  is  said,  the  intention  of  carrying  out 
the  design  already  spoken  of,  namely,  to  embark  for  the 
East,  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  Saracens  in  the  Holy 
Land.  Whilst  there  he  preached  publicly  on  several  oc- 
casions, with  such  eifect  that  several  of  the  inhabitants 
demanded  the  habit,  and  the  authorities  of  the  Republic 
granted  to  him  and  these  new  brethren  the  little  oratory 
of  S.  Daniel.  The  words  of  this  document  are  as  fol- 
lows:— "In  the  year  of  our  Lord  1217,  the  holy  father 
Dominic  came  to  Venice  with  a  few  other  brethren,  and 
received  from  the  Republic  the  oratory  then  called  S, 
Daniel,  but  which  after  his  canonization  was  called  the 
chapel  of  S.  Dominic,  and  since  the  year  1567,  down  to 
the  present  day,  has  been  called  the  chapel  of  Rosary. 
In  this  oratory,  which  was  at  first  very  small,  S.  Dominic 
erected  a  little  convent  for  his  brethren,  and  in  the  place 
now  called  the  novitiate  may  still  be  seen,  in  the  windows 
and  walls,  the  remains  of  this  ancient  fabric."  Whether 
indeed  this  relation  may  be  trusted,  in  so  far  as  concerns 
the  foundation  of  the  convent  at  Venice,  seems  a  matter 
of  doubt;  yet  there  appears  every  probability  that  the 
saint  did  visit  the  city  at  that  time  with  the  intention  of 
embarking  for  the  Holy  Land ;  an  intention  which,  it  is 
well  known,  he  entertained  whilst  yet  at  Toulouse.  What 
the  circumstances  were  which  induced  him  to  abandon  it 
does  not  appear ;  nor  is  there  any  certain  account  preserved 


HIS   FOURTH  VISIT   TO   ROME.  87 

of  his  manner  of  passing  the  months  which  intervened 
between  his  departure  from  Toulouse  and  his  arrival  at 
Rome  at  the  close  of  the  year  1217.  "We  find,  however, 
that  he  stopped  at  Milan  on  his  way,  and  was  there 
courteously  entertained  by  the  Canons  Regular  of  San 
Nazario,  who  received  him  as  one  of  their  own  order,  for 
he  and  his  brethren  still  wore  the  Augustinian  habit; 
nor  did  they  change  it  until  after  the  vision  granted  to 
Blessed  Reginald,  of  which  we  shall  speak  further  on. 

In  default  of  exact  details  concerning  this  fourth  jour- 
ney to  Rome,  we  will  present  our  readers  with  the  picture 
which  has  been  so  faithfully  left  us  of  Dominic's  mode  of 
performing  all  his  journeys,  and  leave  them  by  its  means 
to  fill  up  the  blank,  and  to  follow  him  thus  in  their  mind's 
eye  as  he  crossed  the  Alps  on  foot  and  made  his  way 
through  the  plains  of  Lombardy,  and,  as  some  have  not 
hesitated  to  add,  through  the  valleys  of  Switzerland  and 
the  Tyrol,  preaching  as  he  went.  It  will  help  us  to  a 
more  intimate  acquaintance  with  him,  and  set  him  before 
us  with  a  more  personal  reality,  as  we  enter  on  the  most 
important  period  of  his  life. 

Dominic  always  travelled  on  foot,  with  a  little  bundle 
on  his  shoulder  and  a  stick  in  his  hand.  As  soon  as  he 
was  a  little  out  of  the  towns  and  villages  through  which 
he  passed,  he  would  stop  and  take  off  his  shoes,  perform- 
ing the  rest  of  his  journey  barefoot,  however  rough  and 
bad  the  roads  might  be.  If  a  sharp  stone  or  thorn  en- 
tered his  feet,  he  would  turn  to  his  companions  with  that 
cheerful  and  joyous  air  which  was  so  peculiar  to  him, 
and  say,  "  This  is  penance,"  and  such  kind  of  sufferings 
were  a  particular  pleasure  to  him.  Coming  once  to  a 
place  covered  with  sharp  flints,  he  said  to  his  companion, 
Brother  Bonvisi,  "  Ah !  miserable  wretch  that  I  was,  I 
was  once  obliged  to  put  on  my  shoes  in  passing  this  spot." 
"  Why  so  ?"  said  the  brother.  "  Because  it  had  rained 
so  much,"  replied  Dominic.  He  would  never  let  his  com- 
panions help  to  carry  his  bundle,  though  they  often  begged 
him  to  suffer  them  to  do  so.  When  he  looked  down  from 
the  heights  which  they  were  descending,  over  any  country 
or  city  which  they  were  about  to  enter,  he  would  pause, 


88  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC 

and  look  earnestly  at  it,  often  weeping  as  he  thought  of 
the  miseries  men  suffered  there,  and  of  the  offences  they 
committed  against  God.  Then,  as  he  pursued  his  journey 
and  drew  nearer  he  would  put  on  his  shoes,  and,  kneel- 
ing down,  would  pray  that  his  sins  might  not  draw  down 
on  them  the  chastisement  of  Heaven.  For  there  was  in 
his  character  a  singular  mixture  of  that  frank  and  joyous 
bonhomie,  so  invariably  to  be  found  in  a  high  and 
chivalrous  mind,  with  the  tenderness  of  a  melancholy 
which  had  in  it  nothing  morose,  but  was  rather  the  con- 
sequence of  a  profound  reverence  for  the  purity  of  God, 
the  outrages  against  Whom,  as  they  hourly  came  before 
him,  were  felt  with  an  exquisite  sensibility.  He  seldom 
looked  about  him,  and  never  when  in  towns  or  other 
places  where  he  was  not  alone.  -  His  eyes  were  generally 
cast  down,  and  he  never  seemed  to  notice  anything 
curious  or  remarkable  on  the  way.  If  he  had  to  pass  a 
river  he  would  make  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  then  enter 
it  without  hesitation,  and  was  always  the  first  to  ford  it. 
If  it  rained,  or  any  other  discomfort  disturbed  him  on  the 
road,  he  encouraged  his  companions,  and  would  begin 
singing  in  a  loud  voice  his  favourite  hymn,  the  Ave 
Maris  Stella,  or  the  Veni  Creator.  More  than  once  at  his 
word  the  rain  ceased,  and  the  swollen  rivers  were  passed 
without  difficulty. 

He  constantly  kept  the  fasts  and  abstinences  of  his 
rule,  and  the  silence  prescribed  by  the  constitutions 
until  prime;  and  this  silence  he  insisted  on  being  also 
observed  by  the  others;  though,  as  regarded  the  fasts 
and  abstinences  he  was  indulgent  in  dispensing  with 
them  for  the  brethren  whilst  they  were  travelling;  an 
indulgence  he  never  extended  to  himself.  Then,  as  they 
went  along,  he  would  beguile  the  way  with  talking  of  the 
things  of  God,  or  he  instructed  his  companions  in  points 
of  spiritual  doctrine,  or  read  to  them ;  and  this  kind  of 
teaching  he  enjoined  on  the  other  brethren  when  tra- 
velling with  younger  companions.  Sometimes,  however, 
he  was  used  to  say,  "  Go  on  before,  and  let  us  each  think 
a  little  of  our  Divine  Lord."  This  was  the  signal  that 
he  wished  to  be  left  to  silent  meditation.     At  such  times 


HIS   MODE    OP    TRAVELLING.  89 

lie  would  remain  behind,  to  escape  observation,  and 
would  very  soon  begin  to  pray  aloud,  with  tears  and 
sighs,  losing  all  thought  of  the  road  he  was  following,  or 
the  possible  presence  of  others.  Sometimes  they  had  to 
turn  back  and  search  for  him,  and  would  find  him  kneel- 
ing in  some  thicket  or  lonely  place  without  seeming  to 
fear  wolves  or  other  dangers.  The  dread  of  personal 
danger  indeed  formed  no  part  of  Dominic's  character. 
His  courage,  though  always  passive,  was  essentially 
heroic.  Over  and  o\rer  again  he  had  been  exposed  to 
the  assaults  of  his  enemies,  and  warned  of  their  in- 
tentions against  his  life ;  but  such  things  never  so  much 
as  made  him  change  his  road  and  alter  the  plan  of  his 
journey  in  any  particular;  he  always  treated  the  subject 
with  silent  indifference.  When  his  prayers  were  ended, 
his  brethren,  who  often  watched  him  on  such  occasions, 
would  see  him  take  out  his  favourite  book  of  the  gospels, 
and,  first,  making  the  sign  of  the  cross,  pursue  his  road, 
reading  and  meditating  to  himself.  However  long  and 
fatiguing  was  the  day's  journey,  it  never  prevented  him 
from  saying  Mass  every  morning  whenever  there  was 
a  church  to  be  found;  and  most  frequently  he  would 
not  merely  say  but  sing  it ;  for  he  was  one  who  never 
spared  his  voice  or  strength  in  the  divine  offices.  We 
are  constantly  reminded  of  the  heartiness  of  the  royal 
psalmist,  in  the  character  left  us  of  Dominic's  devotion. 
"  I  will  sing  to  the  Lord  with  all  my  strength,"  was  the 
language  of  David ;  "I  will  sing  to  the  Lord  as  long  as 
I  have  any  being."  And  Dominic  had  no  indulgence  for 
any  indolence  or  self  sparing  in  the  praises  of  God.  He 
always  rendered  Him  the  sacrifice,  not  of  his  heart  only, 
but  of  his  lips;  and  called  on  all  his  companions  to  do 
'he  same,  for  he  felt  it  a  good  and  joyful  thing  to  praise 
the  Lord. 

It  must  be  acknowledged,  that  his  wonderful  bodily 
constitution  was  no  little  assistance  in  this  matter  to  the 
fervour  of  his  soul.  In  his  animal  nature,  no  less  than 
in  the  cast  of  his  mind,  there  was  much  of  the  gallant 
spirit  of  a  soldier  ;  he  never  felt  that  fatigue,  or  in- 
disposition, or  other  little  ailments  and  difficulties,  could 


90  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

be  an  excuse  for  doing  less  for  God.  Therefore  when  he 
stopped  for  the  night  at  some  religious  house,  which  he 
always  preferred  doing  when  it  was  possible,  he  never 
failed  to  join  them  in  the  singing  of  matins ;  and  he  gave 
it  as  his  reason  for  choosing  to  stop  at  a  convent,  in 
preference  to  other  lodgings  which  he  might  have  ac- 
cepted, saying,  "  We  shall 'be  able  to  sing  matins  to-night." 
At  such  times  he  generally  chose  the  office  of  waking 
the  others.  These  passing  visits  to  the  convents,  either 
of  his  own  or  of  other  orders,  were  always  full  of  profit 
to  their  inmates.  They  made  the  most  of  the  few  hours 
of  his  stay,  and  Dominic  never  thought  of  pleading  for 
the  privilege  of  a  weary  traveller.  If  the  convent  were 
under  his  own  government,  his  first  act  was  to  call 
together  the  religious,  and  make  them  a  discourse  on 
spiritual  things  for  a  "good  space;"  and  then  if  any 
were  suffering  from  temptations,  melancholy,  or  any 
kind  of  trouble,  he  never  was  tired  of  comforting  and 
advising  them  till  he  had  restored  them  to  the  quiet 
and  joy  of  their  souls.  Very  often  these  little  visits  were 
so  delightful  to  the  religious  who  entertained  him,  that 
on  his  leaving  them  in  the  morning  they  would  ac- 
company him  on  his  way  to  enjoy  a  little  more  of  his 
discourse ;  for  the  fascination  of  his  conversation  was 
universally  felt  to  be  irresistible.  But  if  there  were 
no  such  nouses  to  receive  him,  he  left  the  choice  of  the 
night's  lodging  to  his  comrades,  and  was  all  the  better 
pleased  if  it  chanced  to  be  incommodious ;  he  made  it  a 
rule,  before  entering,  always  to  spend  some  time  in  the 
nearest  church.  When  people  of  high  rank  entertained 
him,  he  would  first  quench  his  thirst  at  some  fountain, 
lest  he  should  be  tempted  to  exceed  religious  modesty  at 
table,  and  so  give  occasion  of  scandal ;  a  prudence  which, 
in  a  man  of  such  austerity  of  life,  gives  us  a  singular  idaa 
of  his  humility.  When  ill,  he  would  eat  roots  and  fruit 
rather  than  touch  the  delicacies  of  their  tables ;  and  even 
when  canon  of  Osma  he  never  touched  meat;  he  would 
take  it  and  hide  it  in  his  plate,  not  to  be  observed. 
Sometimes  he  begged  his  bread  from  door  to  door, 
thanking  his  benefactors   for   their   scanty   alms    on   his 


HIS  MODE   OP   TRAVELLING.  91 

knees,  and  with  uncovered  head.  His  sleep  was  taken 
on  the  floor,  and  in  his  habit ;  and  very  often  those  who 
slept  near  him  could  hear  that  the  night  was  spent  in 
prayers  and  tears,  and  "strong  crying"  to  God  for  the 
salvation  of  souls. 

Thus  journeying,  he  would  stop  and  preach  at  all  the 
towns  and  villages  in  his  way:  what  kind  of  preaching 
this  was,  we  may  easily  guess.  "  What  books  have  you 
studied,  father,"  said  a  young  man  to  him  one  day,  "that 
your  sermons  are  so  full  of  the  learning  of  holy  Scrip- 
ture ?"  "  I  have  studied  in  the  book  of  charity,  my  son," 
he  replied,  "  more  than  in  any  other :  it  is  the  book 
which  teaches  us  all  things."  "With  all  his  strength," 
says  blessed  Jordan,  "and  with  the  most  fervent  zeal, 
he  sought  to  gain  souls  to  Christ  without  any  exception, 
and  as  many  as  he  could ;  and  this  zeal  was  marvellously, 
and  in  a  way  not  to  be  believed,  rooted  in  his  very 
heart."  His  favourite  way  of  recommending  to  man  the 
truths  of  God,  was  the  sweetness  of  persuasion ;  and  yet, 
as  his  parting  address  to  the  people  of  Languedoc  shows 
us,  he  knew  (according  to  his  own  expression)  "  how  to 
use  the  stick."  Finally,  to  cite  once  more  the  words  of 
the  writer  just  quoted,  "Wherever  he  was,  whether  on 
the  road  with  his  companions,  or  in  the  house  with  the 
guests  or  the  family  of  his  host,  or  among  great  men, 
princes  or  prelates,  he  always  spoke  to  edification,  and 
was  wont  to  give  examples  and  stories  whereby  the  souls 
of  those  who  heard  him  were  excited  to  the  love  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  to  contempt  of  the  world.  Everywhere,  both 
in  word  and  deed,  he  made  himself  known  as  a  truly 
evangelical  man."  The  same  testimony  was  borne  by 
those  who  were  examined  on  his  canonization :  "  Where- 
ever  he  was,"  they  say,  "  whether  at  home  or  on  a  journey, 
he  ever  spoke  of  God  or  to  God;  and  it  was  his  desire 
that  this  practice  should  be  introduced  into  the  consti- 
tutions of  his  order."  We  must,  however,  conclude  these 
brief  notices,  so  precious  in  the  personal  details  they  have 
preserved  to  us  of  some  of  his  characteristic  habits,  and 
once  more  take  up  the  thread  of  his  story,  which  finds  him 
for  the  fourth  time  under  the  walls  of  the  eternal  city. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  convent  of  S.  Sixtns.    Kapid  increase  ot  the  Order.    Miracles 
and  popularity  of  S.  Dominic.     The  visit  of  the  angels 

Dominic  was  received  at  Rome  with  renewed  evidences 
of  affection  and  favour  from  Pope  Honorius,  who  showed 
every  disposition  to  forward  the  view  with  which  he  had 
returned  thither,  namely,  the  foundation  at  Rome  of  a 
convent  of  his  order.  The  church  granted  to  him  by  the 
Pontiff  for  this  purpose  was  chosen  by  himself;  it  was 
one  already  full  of  ancient  and  traditionary  interest,  which 
its  connection  with  the  rise  of  the  Dominican  order  has 
certainly  not  lessened.  There  is  a  long  road  that  stretches 
out  of  Rome,  following  the  course  of  the  ancient  Via 
Appia,  which,  deserted  as  it  now  is  by  human  habitation, 
you  may  trace  by  its  abandoned  churches  and  its  ruined 
tombs.  In  the  old  days  of  Rome,  it  was  the  patrician 
quarter  of  the  city ;  the  palace  of  the  Csesars  looks  down 
upon  it,  and  by  its  side  stand  the  vast  ruins  of  Caracalla's 
baths,  with  the  green  meadows  covering  the  site  of  the 
Circus  Maximus.  This  circumstance  of  its  being  formerly 
the  place  of  popular  and  favourite  resort,  accounts  for  the 
abundance  of  Christian  remains  which  mingle  with  fhe 
relics  of  a  pagan  age,  and  share  their  interest  and  their 
decay.  For  here  were  formerly  the  houses  of  many  of 
noble  and  some  of  royal  birth;  and  when  their  owners 
confessed  the  faith,  and  died  martyrs  for  Christ,  the  vene- 
ration of  the  early  church  consecrated  those  dwellings  as 
churches,  to  be  perpetual  monuments  of  names  which  had 
else  been  forgotten.  But  in  time  the  population  of  Rome 
gathered  more  and  more  to  the  northern  side  of  the 
Caelian  Hill,  and  the  Via  Appia  has  long  been  left  to  a 
solitude  which  harmonizes  well  enough  with  its  original 
destination,  for  it  was  the  Roman  street  of  tomb3.      There, 


CONVENT   OF   S.   SIXTUS.  93 

mixed  with  the  ruined  towers  and  melancholy  pagan 
memorials  of  death,  where  the  wild  plants  festoon  them- 
selves in  such  rich  luxuriance,  and  the  green  lizards  and 
snakes  enjoy  an  unmolebted  home,  stand  these  deserted 
Christian  churches,  never  open  now,  save  on  the  one  or 
two  days  when  they  are  places  of  pilgrimage  for  the  crowds 
who  flock  to  pray  at  shrines  and  altars  which  at  other 
times  are  left  in  the  uninterrupted  silence  of  neglect. 
Among  these  is  one  dedicated  to  S.  Sixtus,  pope  and 
martyr,  and  the  tomb  of  five  others,  popes  and  martyrs 
like  himself.  If  the  English  traveller  visit  it  now,  on  one 
of  those  days  of  which  we  speak,  when  its  doors  are  opened 
to  the  devotion  of  the  faithful,  and  should  chance  to  ad- 
dress himself  to  any  of  the  white-robed  religious  whom 
he  may  find  there,  and  who  seem  to  be  its  masters,  he 
will  be  startled  with  the  sound,  so  sweet,  and  alas !  in  a 
place  of  holy  association,  so  strange  to  his  ears,  the  accent 
of  his  own  English  tongue.  The  church  of  San  Sisto  is,  in 
fact  at  this  time,  the  property  of  the  Irish  Dominican 
convent  of  San  Clemente  a  circumstance  not  without  its 
interest  to  ourselves. 

This  was  the  church  chosen  by  Dominic  for  his  first 
foundation  at  Rome,  and  Honorius  did  not  hesitate  to 
grant  it  to  him,  together  with  all  the  buildings  attached. 
These  had  been  erected  by  Innocent  III.,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  gathering  together  within  their  walls  a  number  of 
religious  women  who  were  at  that  time  living  in  Rome 
under  no  regular  discipline.  The  design  had  never  been 
carried  out,  and  Dominic  was  ignorant  of  it  when  he  ap- 
plied for  and  obtained  the  grant  of  the  church.  His  first 
care  was  to  reduce  the  house  to  a  conventual  form,  and 
to  enlarge  it  so  as  to  be  capable  of  receiving  a  consider- 
able number  of  brethren.  To  do  this  he  was  obliged  to 
solicit  the  alms  of  the  faithful,  which  were  indeed  abun- 
dantly supplied;  the  Pope  himself  liberally  contributing 
to  a  work  in  which  he  felt  no  common  interest.  Mean- 
while Dominic  laboured  at  his  usual  trade  of  preaching. 
Whilst  the  walls  of  his  convent  were  daily  rising  above 
the  ground  ajad  growing  into  shape,  he  was  busy  forming 
a  spiritual  edifice  out  of  the  hearts  and  souls  of  those 


94,  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

whom  his  eloquence  daily  won  from  the  world  to  join 
themselves  to  God.  In  our  own  day  we  are  often  tempted 
to  talk  and  think  much  of  our  great  successes,  and  the 
extraordinary  impulse  given  to  our  religious  life.  It  is  a 
style  known  only  to  those  among  whom  that  life  is  still 
but  feeble,  and  would  doubtless  have  sounded  strange  in 
the  ears  of  our  fathers;  and  nothing  is  better  fitted  to 
humble  and  silence  our  foolish  boasting,  than  a  glance  at 
the  results  of  a  religious  impulse  in  the  ages  of  faith.  It 
is  nowhere  painted  to  our  eyes  in  more  vivid  and  magni- 
ficent colours  than  in  the  period  of  this  Church's  history. 

Many  influences  certainly  paved  the  way  for  what  in 
these  days  would  be  called  the  " success"  of  Dominic  and 
Francis.  As  we  have  before  said,  they  were  wanted  by 
their  age:  the  world  was  restlessly  heaving  with  the  ex- 
citement of  new  feelings,  which  stirred  men  with  emotions 
they  neither  understood  nor  knew  hpw  to  use.  We  need 
not  therefore  wonder  at  the  enthusiasm  with  which  they 
flung  themselves  into  the  ranks  of  the  two  leaders  whom 
God  had  sent  them.  For,  after  all,  great  men  are  not 
the  exponents  of  their  own  views  or  sentiments.  Be  they 
saints,  or  heroes,  or  poets,  their  greatness  consists  in  this, 
that  they  have  incarnated  some  principle  which  lies  hidden 
in  the  hearts  of  their  fellow-men.  All  have  felt  it ;  they 
alone  have  expressed  and  given  it  life;  and  so  when  the 
word  is  spoken  which  orings  it  forth  to  the  world,  all  men 
recognize  it  as  their  own;  they  need  no  further  teaching 
and  training  in  this  thought,  for  unconsciously  to  them- 
selves they  have  been  growing  into  it  all  their  lives;  and 
the  devotion  with  which  they  follow  the  call  of  him  who 
guides  them  is,  perhaps,  the  strongest  sentiment  of  which 
human  nature  is  susceptible;  made  up  not  merely  of  ad- 
miration, or  loyalty,  or  enthusiasm,  but  in  addition  to  all 
these,  of  that  gratitude  which  a  soul  feels  towards  that 
greater  and  stronger  soul  whose  sympathy  has  set  its  own 
prisoned  thoughts  at  liberty,  and  given  them  the  power 
and  the  space  to  act.  Then  like  some  pent-up  and  angry 
waters,  that  have  long  vexed  and  chafed  themselves  into 
foam,  and  beaten  aimlessly  against  the  wall  that  kept 
them  in,  when  the  free  passage  is  made,  how  impetuously 


HIS  MIRACLES.  95 

they  rush  forth !  At  first  agitated  and  confused,  but 
gatliering  majesty  as  they  flow,  till  the  torrent  becomes 
a  river,  and  the  river  swells  into  a  broad  sea,  the  dash  of 
whose  long  united  waves  no  barrier  can  resist.  This  is 
what  we  call  a  popular  movement.  Europe  has  seen  such 
things  often  enough,  as  well  for  good  as  for  evil ;  but  she 
never  saw  one  more  universal  or*  more  extraordinary  than 
the  first  burst  into  existence  of  the  mendicant  orders. 
Francis  had  heen  first  in  the  field,  and  the  first  chapter 
of  his  order  saw  him  in  the  midst  of  five  thousand  of  his 
brethren.  But  the  fields  were  white  with  the  harvest, 
and  the  Friars  Minor  were  not  to  be  the  only  gatherers 
of  it.  In  three  months  Dominic  had  assembled  round 
him  at  Rome  more  than  a  hundred  religious  with  whom 
to  begin  his  new  foundation.  His  convent  of  S.  Sixtus 
had  to  be  even  yet  more  enlarged  ;  and  here  he  may  now 
be  said  to  have  carried  out  for  the  first  time  the  entire 
observance  of  that  rule  of  life  which  was  commenced  at 
S.  Romain. 

This  period  of  his  life  is  everyway  remarkable;  it  sets 
him  before  us  in  a  new  character.  Hitherto  we  have 
caught  but  broken  and  imperfect  glimpses  of  him  in  his 
life  of  solitary  and  unappreciated  labour.  But  now  at 
length  we  see  him  manifested  to  the  world,  ruling  over  a 
numerous  community,  and  sending  them  out  to  be  in 
their  turn  the  apostles  of  their  day.  Many  details  of  his 
character  come  out  to  our  view  which  till  now  have  lain 
concealed ;  and  as  if  to  make  him  known  in  the  eyes  of 
men  in  an  especial  manner,  God  was  pleased  at  this  time 
to  confirm  his  teaching  and  authority  by  many  super- 
natural signs.  The  first  of  these  was  on  the  occasion  of 
an  accident  which  happened  during  the  erection  of  the 
convent.  A  mason,  whilst  excavating  under  part  of  the 
building,  was  buried  by  a  mass  of  the  falling  earth.  The 
brethren  ran  to  the  spot  too  late  to  save  him,  but  Domi- 
nic commanded  them  to  dig  him  out,  whilst  he  betook 
himself  to  prayer.  They  did  so,  and  when  the  earth  was 
removed,  the  man  arose  alive  and  unhurt.  This  miracle, 
however  much  it  confirmed  the  faith  and  devotion  of  his 
own  followers,  was  little  known  or  talked  of  beyond  the 


9b  LIFE   OF   8.    DOMINIO. 

walls  of  his  convent ;  but  it  was  followed  by  another  of 
more  public  notoriety.  Dominic  was  accustomed  at  this 
time  to  preach  in  the  church  of  S.  Mark,  where  he  was 
listened  to  with  enthusiasm  by  crowds  of  all  ranks  who 
nocked  to  hear  him.  Among  them  one  of  his  most  constant 
auditors  was  a  certain  Roman  widow,  Guatonia  or  Tuta 
di  Buvalischi ;  and  one  day  rather  than  miss  the  preach- 
ing, she  came  to  S.  Marks,  having  left  her  only  son  at 
home  dangerously  ill.  She  returned  to  her  honse  to  find 
him  dead.  When  the  first  anguish  of  her  grief  was  over, 
she  felt  an  extraordinary  hope  rise  within  her  that  by 
the  mercy  of  God,  and  the  prayers  of  His  servant  Domi- 
nic, her  child  might  yet  be  restored  to  her.  She  there- 
fore determined  to  go  at  once  to  S.  Sixtus;  and  firm  in 
her  faith  she  set  out  on  foot,  whilst  her  women  servants 
carried  the  cold  and  lifeless  body  of  the  boy  behind  her. 
S.  Sixtus  was  not  yet  inclosed,  on  account  of  the  un- 
finished state  of  the  convent,  and  she  therefore  entered 
the  gates  without  difficulty,  and  found  Dominic  at  the 
door  of  the  chapter-house,  a  small  building  standing  se- 
parate from  the  church  and  convent.  Kneeling  at  his 
feet,  she  silently  laid  the  dead  body  before  him,  whilst  her 
tears  and  sobs  of  anguish  told  the  rest.  Dominic,  touched 
with  compassion,  turned  aside  for  a  few  moments,  and 
prayed ;  then,  coming  back,  he  made  the  sign  of  the  cross 
over  the  child,  and  taking  him  by  the  hand,  raised  him, 
and  gave  him  back  to  his  mother,  alive,  and  cured  of  his 
sickness.  Some  of  the  brethren  were  witnesses  of  this 
miracle,  and  gave  their  evidence  in  the  process  of  canon- 
ization. Dominic  strictly  charged  the  mother  to  keep  the 
fact  a  secret,  but  she  disobeyed  him,  as  the  woman  of  Judea 
had  before  disobeyed  One  greater  than  him.  Her  joy  was 
too  abundant,  and  out  of  its  abundance  her  heart  and  lips 
were  busy,  and  so  the  whole  story  was  quickly  spread 
through  Rome,  and  reached  the  ears  of  Honorius,  who 
ordered  it  to  be  publicly  announced  in  the  pulpits  of  the " 
city.  Dominic's  sensative  humility  was  deeply  hurt:  he 
hastened  to  the  Pontiff",  and  implored  him  to  counter- 
mand his  order.  "  Otherwise,  Holy  Father,"  he  said,  "  I 
shall  be  compelled  to  fly  from  hence,  and  cross  the  sea  to 


DEVOTION  OF  THE  ROMAN  PEOPLE.        97 

preach  to  the  Saracens ;  for  I  cannot  stay  longer  here." 
The  Pope,  however,  forbade  him  to  depart ;  he  was  obliged 
to  remain  and  receive  what  is  ever  the  most  painful  portion 
of  the  saints,  the  public  honour  and  veneration  of  the 
populace.  And  certainly  they  evinced  it  with  a  warmth 
which  English  hearts  may  find  it  difficult  to  understand. 
They  were  Catholics  and  Romans,  and  so  thought  little 
of  human  respect,  or  of  anything  save  the  giving  free  vent 
to  that  almost  passionate  devotion  which  is  the  hereditary 
characteristic  of  their  race.  So  great  and  little,  old  and 
young,  nobles  and  beggars,  "they  followed  him  about" 
(to  use  the  words  of  contemporaneous  authors)  "  wherever 
he  went,  as  though  he  were  an  angel,  reputing  those 
happy  who  could  come  near  enough  to  touch  him,  and 
cutting  off  pieces  of  his  habit  to  keep  as  relics."  This  cut- 
ting of  his  hajbit  went  on  at  such  a  pace  as  to  give  the 
good  father  the  appearance  of  a  beggar,  for  the  jagged  and 
ragged  skirt  scarcely  reached  below  his  knee.  His  brethren 
on  one  occasion  endeavoured  somewhat  harshly  to  check 
some  of  those  who  crowded  round  him,  but  Dominic's 
good-nature  was  hurt  when  he  saw  the  sorrowfnl  and  disap- 
pointed looks  of  the  poor  people.  "  Let  them  alone,"  he 
said ;  "  we  have  no  right  to  hinder  their  devotion."  A  me- 
morial of  these  circumstances  may  still  be  seen  in  that 
same  church  of  S.  Mark  of  which  we  have  spoken.  Once  a 
year,  on  the  festival  of  its  patron  saint,  there  is  an  exhi- 
bition in  that  church  of  saintly  treasures,  which  few  sanc- 
tuaries can  rival  and  none  surpass.  There,  amid  the  relics 
of  apostles  and  martyrs  in  jewelled  and  crystal  shrines 
and  elaborate  carvings,  you  may  see,  inclosed  in  a  golden 
reliquary,  a  little  piece  of  torn  and  faded  serge.  Priests 
are  there  holding  up  these  precious  objects  one  by  one  for 
the  veneration  of  the  kneeling  crowd,  and  they  hold  this 
also  for  you  to  look  at  and  to  kiss,  whilst  they  proclaim 
aloud,  "This  is  part  of  the  habit  of  the  glorious  Patri- 
arch S.  Dominic,  who  in  the  first  year  of  his  coming  to 
Rome,  was  wont  to  preach  in  this  church."  And  fancy 
is  quick  to  suggest  that  this  precious  morsel  may  be  one 
of  those  so  unceremoniously  torn  from  him  by  the  crowds 
who  flocked  about  him  on  that  very  spot. 


98  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

Other  miracles  are  related  as  having  occurred  during 
the  time  of  his  residence  at  S.  Sixtus,  and  we  give  them 
here,  as  no  more  exact  date  is  assigned.  Giacomo  del 
Miele,  a  Roman  by  birth,  and  the  syndic  of  the  convent, 
-was  attacked  by  sickness,  which  increased  so  rapidly  that 
he  received  extreme  unction,  and  was  desired  by  the  phy- 
sician to  prepare  for  death.  The  brethren  were  greatly 
afflicted,  for  he  was  a  man  of  singular  ability  for  his  office, 
and  much  beloved.  Dominic  was  overcome  by  the  tears 
of  his  children:  desiring  them  all  to  leave  the  cell,  he 
shut  the  door,  and,  like  Elias  when  he  raised  the  Suna- 
mite's  son,  extended  himself  on  the  almost  lifeless  body  of 
the  dying  man,  and  earnestly  invoked  the  Divine  mercy 
iand  assistance.  Then,  taking  him  by  the  hand,  Giacomo 
arose  entirely  recovered,  and  Dominic  delivered  him  to 
his  companions,  who  knew  not  how  to  contain  and  express 
their  joy. 

Among  the  "Murati,"  whom  we  mentioned  in  a  former 
page,  and  whom  he  still  continued  to  visit  and  direct,  there 
were  some  who  lived  a  life  of  extraordinary  mortification, 
and  were  entirely  enclosed  in  little  cells  built  in  the  walls, 
so  as  that  none  could  enter,  or  communicate  with  their 
inhabitants;  food  and  other  necessaries  being  given  to 
them  through  a  window.  One  of  these  recluses  was  a 
woman  named  Buona,  who  lived  in  a  town  near  the  gate 
of  S.  John  Lateran ;  another,  Lucy,  in  a  little  cell  behind 
the  church  of  S.  Anastasia.  Both  of  them  suffered  from 
incurable  and  most  terrible  diseases,  brought  on  by  the 
severity  of  their  mode  of  life.  One  day,  after  Dominic 
had  administered  the  sacrament  of  penance  and  the  holy 
Eucharist  to  Buona  through  her  little  window,  and  ex- 
horted her  to  patience  under  her  dreadful  sufferings,  he 
blessed  her  with  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  went  away ; 
but  at  the  same  instant  she  felt  herself  perfectly  cured. 
Lucy  was  likewise  restored  in  a  similiar  manner,  as  Brother 
Bertrand,  who  was  present  on  the  occasion,  attested. 

But  perhaps  the  most  interesting  of  all  these  miracu- 
lous events  is  one  still  daily  commemorated  in  every  house 
of  the  Dominican  order.  We  are  assured  that  a  similar 
event  happened  twice  during  the  period  of  his  residence 


MIRACLE   AT   S.    SIXTHS.  99 

at  S.  Sixtus;  but  we  shall  only  give  the  account  of  one 
of  these  circumstances,  as  related  at  length  in  the  nar- 
rative  of  Sister  Cecilia : — "  When  the  Friars  were  still 
living  near  the  church  of  S.  Sixtus,  and  were  about  one 
hundred  in  number,  on  a  certain  day  the  blessed  Dominic 
commanded  Brother  John  of  Calabria  and  Brother  Albert 
of  Rome  to  go  into  the  city  to  beg  alms.  They  did  so 
without  success  from  the  morning  even  trl'l  the  third  hour 
of  the  day.  Therefore  they  returned  to  the  convent,  and 
they  were  already  hard  by  the  church  of  S.  Anastasia, 
when  they  were  met  by  a  certain  woman  who  had  a  great 
devotion  to  the  order ;  and  seeing  that  they  had  nothing 
with  them,  she  gave  them  a  loaf;  "  For  I  would  not,"  she 
said,  "that  you  should  go  back  quite  empty-handed."  As 
they  went  on  a  little  further  they  met  a  man  who  asked 
them  very  importunately  for  charity.  They  excused 
themselves,  saying  they  had  nothing  themselves ;  but  the 
man  only  begged  the  more  earnestly.  Then  they  said  one 
to  another,  "What  can  we  do  with  only  one  loaf?  Let  us 
give  it  to  him  for  the  love  of  God."  So  they  gave  him 
the  loaf,  and  immediately  they  lost  sight  of  him.  Now, 
when  they  were  come  to  the  convent,  the  blessed  father, 
to  whom  the  Holy  Spirit  had  meanwhile  revealed  all  that 
had  passed,  came  out  to  meet  them,  saying  to  them  with 
a  joyful  air,  "Children,  you  have  nothing]"  They  re- 
plied, "No,  father;"  and  they  told  him  all  that  had  hap- 
pened, and  how  they  had  given  the  loaf  to  the  poor  man. 
Then  said  he,  "  It  was  an  angel  of  the  Lord :  the  Lord 
will  know  how  to  provide  for  His  own:  let  us  go  and 
pray."  Thereupon  he  entered  the  church,  and,  having 
come  out  again  after  a  little  space,  he  bade  the  brethren 
call  the  community  to  the  refectory.  They  replied  to  him 
saying,  "But,  holy  father,  how  is  it  you  would  have  us 
call  them,  seeing  that  there  is  nothing  to  give  them  to 
eat?"  And  they  purposely  delayed  obeying  the  order 
which  they  had  received.  Therefore  the  blessed  father 
caused  Brother  Roger  the  cellarer  to  be  summoned,  and 
commanded  him  to  assemble  the  brethren  to  dinner,  for 
the  Lord  would  provide  for  their  wants.  Then  they  pre- 
pared  the    tables,    and   placed   the  cups,   and  at  a  given 


100  LIFE   OF  S.   DOMINIC. 

signal  all  the  community  entered  the  refectory.  The 
blessed  father  gave  the  benediction,  and  every  one  being 
seated,  Brother  Henry  the  Roman  began  to  read.  Mean- 
while the  blessed  Dominic  was  praying,  hi3  hands  being 
joined  together  on  the  table;  and,  lo  1  suddenly,  even  as 
he  had  promised  them  by  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  two  beautiful  young  men,  ministers  of  the  Divine 
Providence,  appeared  in  the  midst  of  the  refectory,  car- 
rying loaves  in  two  white  cloths  which  hung  from  their 
shoulders  before  and  behind.  They  began  to  distribute 
the  bread,  beginning  at  the  lower  rows,  one  at  the  right 
hand,  and  the  other  at  the  left,  placing  before  each  bro- 
ther one  whole  loaf  of  admirable  beauty.  Then,  when  they 
were  come  to  the  blessed  Dominic,  and  had  in  like  manner 
placed  an  entire  loaf  before  him,  they  bowed  their  heads, 
and  disappeared,  without  any  one  knowing,  even  to  this 
day,  whence  they  came  or  whither  they  went.  And  the 
blessed  Dominic  said  to  his  brethren :  "  My  brethren, 
eat  the  bread  which  the  Lord  has  sent  you."  Then  he 
told  the  servers  to  pour  out  some  wine.  But  they  re- 
plied, "Holy  father,  there  is  none."  Then  the  blessed 
Dominic,  full  of  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  said  to  them,  "  Go 
to  the  vessel,  and  pour  out  to  the  brethren  the  wine  which 
the  Lord  has  sent  them."  They  went  there,  and  found, 
indeed,  that  the  vessel  was  filled  up  to  the  brim  with  an 
excellent  wine,  which  they  hastened  to  bring.  And  Dominic 
said,  "  Drink,  my  brethren,  of  the  wine  which  the  Lord 
has  sent  you."  They  ate,  therefore,  and  drank  as 
much  as  they  desired,  both  that  day,  and  the  next,  and 
the  day  after  that.  But  after  the  meal  of  the  third  day, 
he  caused  them  to  give  what  remained  of  the  bread  and 
wine  to  the  poor,  and  would  not  allow  that  any  more  of 
it  should  be  kept  in  the  house.  During  these  three  days 
no  one  went  to  seek  alms,  because  God  had  sent  them 
bread  and  wine  in  abundance.  Then  the  blessed  father 
made  a  beautiful  discourse  to  his  brethren,  warning  them 
never  to  distrust  the  Divine  goodness,  even  in  time  of 
greatest  want.  Brother  Tancred,  the  prior  of  the  convent, 
Brother  Odo  of  Rome,  and  Brother  Henry  of  the  same 
place,  Brother   Lawrence  of  England,    Brother  Gandion, 


MIRACLE   AT   S.   SIXTUS.  101 

and  Brother  John  of  Rome,  and  many  others  were  present 
at  this  miracle,  which  they  related  to  Sister  Cecilia,  and 
to  the  other  sisters,  who  were  then  still  living  at  the 
monastery  of  Santa  Maria  on  the  other  side  of  the  Tiber ; 
and  they  even  brought  to  them  some  of  the  bread  and 
"wine,  which  they  preserved  for  a  long  time  as  relics.  Now 
the  Brother  Albert,  whom  the  Blessed  Dominic  had  sent 
to  beg  with  a  companion,  was  one  of  the  two  brethren 
whose  death  the  blessed  Dominic  had  foretold  at  Rome. 
The  other  was  Brother  Gregory,  and  a  man  of  great 
beauty  and  perfect  grace.  He  was  the  first  to  return  to 
our  Lord,  having  devoutly  received  all  the  sacraments. 
On  the  third  day  after,  Brother  Albert,  having  also  re- 
ceived the  sacraments,  departed  from  this  darksome  prison 
to  the  palace  of  heaven.  Allusion  is  made  in  the  conclu- 
ding part  of  this  narrative  to  a  circumstance  which  took 
place  a  little  later.  One  day,  Dominic  being  full  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  was  holding  chapter,  and  was  observed  by  all 
present  to  be  very  sad.  "  Children,"  he  said,  "know  that 
within  three  days,  two  of  you  now  present  will  lose  the  life 
of  your  bodies,  and  two  others  that  of  their  souls."  Within 
the  time  described,  the  two  brothers  named  above  died,  as 
we  have  related ;  and  two  others,  whose  names  are  not  given, 
returned  to  the  world. 

We  said  that  the  circumstance  of  the  angel's  visit  to 
the  refectory  of  S.  Sixus,  so  beautifully  related  by  Sister 
Cecilia,  is  still  daily  commemorated  in  the  houses  of  the 
order.  And  it  is  so ;  for  from  this  time  the  custom  was 
adopted  of  beginning  to  serve  the  lowest  tables  first,  and 
so  going  up  to  the  table  of  the  prior ;  a  custom  which  was 
afterwards  made  a  law  of  the  order,  being  introduced  into 
the  constitutions. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

Tl  e  monastery  of  Santa  Maria  in  Trastevere.  Dominic  is  ap- 
pointed to  reform  and  inclose  the  community.  His  success. 
Their  settlement  at  S.  Sixtus.  The  restoration  to  life  of  the 
Lord  Napoleon.     Sister  Cecilia 

Some  mention  was  made  in  the  last  chapter  of  a  design 
entertained  by  Pope  Innocent  III.,  to  appropriate  the 
church  of  S.  Sixtus  to  a  number  of  religious  women  then 
living  in  Rome  without  inclosure,  and  some  even  in  the 
private  houses  of  their  relations.  The  design  of  collecting 
them  together  under  regular  discipline  had  been  found 
fraught  with  difficulty,  and  had  failed;  even  the  papal 
authority,  aided  by  the  power  and  genius  of  such  a  man  as 
Innocent,  had  been  unable  to  overcome  the  wilfulness  and 
prejudice  which  opposed  so  wise  a  project.  Honorius,  who 
no  less  than  his  predecessor  ardently  desired  to  see  it  carried 
out,  resolved  to  commit  the  management  of  the  whole  affair 
to  Dominic.  He  could  not  refuse ;  but  aware  of  the  com- 
plicated obstacles  which  lay  in  the  way,  he  made  it  a 
condition  that  three  other  persons  of  high  authority  might 
be  united  with  him  in  a  business  which,  he  probably  felt, 
was  far  harder  than  the  foundation  of  many  convents, 
namely,  the  reform  of  relaxation,  and  the  union  under  one 
head  and  into  one  body  of  a  number  of  individuals  who 
owned  no  common  interest  or  authority 

These  religious  had  for  a  considerable  time  been  badly 
governed;  perhaps,  we  should  rather  say,  they  had  not 
been  governed  at  all.  They  claimed  exemption  from  the 
ordinary  rules,  were  members  of  powerful  families,  and 
their  relatives,  among  whom  many  of  them  lived,  urged 
them  on  to  resist  every  encroachment  on  their  liberty  as 
an  act  of  tyranny.  And  indeed,  in  the  then  existing  state 
of  things,  they  could  not  be  said  to  be  absolutely  com- 
pelled to  obedience :    the  matter  was  one  rather  demand- 


REFORM  OF  SANTA  MARIA.  103 

ing  address  than  authority.  But  if  ever  man  possessed 
the  art  of  persuasion  it  was  the  blessed  Dominic,  whom, 
as  it  is  said,  "none  did  ever  resist;"  or  rather  persuasion 
with  him  was  not  art,  but  nature.  It  was  the  effect  of 
that  admirable  union  of  patience,  prudence,  and  firmness, 
tempered  with  the  charm  of  a  sweet  and  tranquil  gaiety, 
which  gave  so  wonderful  a  magic  to  his  intercourse ;  and 
his  powers  were  never  more  severely  tested  than  on  this 
occasion.  The  coadjutors  given  him  by  the  Pope  were 
the  cardinals  Ugolino,  Bishop  of  Ostia,  the  venerable 
friend  of  S.  Francis;  Stephen  of  Fossa  Nuova;  and  Ni- 
cholas Bishop  of  Tusculum.  The  very  first  steps  which  the 
cautious  commissioners  took  raised  a  storm  of  obloquy. 
The  cardinals  had  enough  to  do  to  quiet  the  nuns,  and 
bring  them  to  listen  to  the  Pope's  proposals.  But  those 
who  held  out  had  a  strong  party  in  their  favour.  The 
gossip  of  Rome  was  on  their  side ;  and  there  was  a  tem- 
pest of  busy  angry  tongues  all  declaiming  against  tyranny 
and  aggression,  and  talking  great  things  about  innovation 
on  an  ancient  custom.  "And  truly,"  says  Castiglio,  with 
a  touch  of  Spanish  humour,  "the  custom  was  so  very  an- 
cient, that  it  could  scarce  keep  its  legs.  Moreover,"  he 
adds,  "  we  know  well,  that  for  relaxation  and  liberty  there 
will  always  be  ten  thousand  persons  ready  to  do  great 
things,  but  for  virtue  not  one  willing  to  stir  a  step." 
However,  as  we  have  said,  the  nuns  had  the  popular  cla- 
mour on  their  side,  and  they  Used  their  advantage  with 
considerable  address.  They  had  but  to  receive  visitors 
all  day  long,  and  keep  up  the  excitement  of  their  friends 
by  perpetual  talking,  and  the  Pope  and  cardinals  would 
be  held  at  bay. 

The  most  refractory  of  these  religious  were  some  who 
were  living  at  that  time  in  the  monastery  of  Santa  Maria 
in  Trastevere,  in  which  was  kept  a  celebrated  picture  of 
our  Blessed  Lady,  said  to  have  been  painted  by  S.  Luke. 
This  picture  was  a  particular  favourite  with  the  Roman 
people.  Tradition  said  that  it  had  been  brought  to  Rome, 
many  centuries  before,  from  Constantinople;  that  it  was 
t  >e  same  that  had  been  borne  processionally  by  S.  Gre- 
gory in  the  time  of  the  plague,  on  that  Easter-day  when 


104  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

the  words  of  the  Regina  Caeli  were  first  heard  snug 
overhead  by  the  voices  of  the  angelic  choirs.  After  that 
Sergius  III.  had  caused  it  to  be  placed  in  the  Lateran 
Basilica,  but  in  the  middle  of  the  night  it  found  its  own 
way  back  to  the  majestic  old  church  which  seemed  its 
chosen  resting-place.  The  possession  of  this  picture  was 
no  inconsiderable  addition  to  the  power  and  popularity  of 
the  nuns ;  without  it  they  were  determined  never  to  stir, 
and  there  seemed  great  difficulties  in  the  way  of  remoAr- 
ing  it.  Dominic's  plan  was  simply  to  carry  out  that  pre- 
viously designed  by  Pope  Innocent,  and  collect  all  the 
nuns  of  the  different  convents  that  had  no  regular  dis- 
cipline, as  well  as  the  others  living  out  of  inclosure,  into 
one  community,  to  whom  he  proposed  giving  up  his  own 
convent  of  S.  Sixtus,  receiving  instead  that  of  Santa  Sa- 
bina  on  the  Aventine  Hill.  His  first  visit  was  a  failure; 
the  very  mention  of  inclosure  and  community  life  was 
received  by  a  very  intelligible  assertion  that  they  neither 
were  nor  would  be  controlled  by  him,  the  cardinals,  or  the 
Pope.  But  Dominic  was  not  so  easily  daunted.  He  used 
all  the  skill  and  address  of  manner  with  whicn  God  had 
endowed  him;  and  on  his  second  visit  he  found  means 
to  win  over  the  abbess,  and  after  her  all  the  community, 
with  one  solitary  exception,  to  the  wishes  of  the  Pope. 
There  were,  however,  conditions  proposed  and  accepted. 
These  were,  that  they  must  be  suffered  to  carry  their  pic- 
ture with  them  to  S.  Sixtus,  and  should  it  come  back  to 
the  Trastevere  of  itself,  as  in  the  days  of  Pope  Sergius, 
that  they  should  be  held  free  to  come  back  after  it.  Do- 
minic consented ;  but,  saving  this  clause,  he  induced  them 
to  profess  obedience  in  all  else  to  himself ;  and  they  having 
done  so,  he  gave  them  as  their  first  trial  a  prohibition 
to  leave  their  convent  in  order  to  visit  any  of  their  friends 
or  relatives ;  assuring  them  that  in  a  very  short  time 
S.  Sixtus  should  be  ready  to  receive  them. 

After  this  it  seemed  as  though  the  affair  were  pretty 
well  settled;  "but"  (to  use  the  words  of  the  grave  and 
judicious  Polidori)  "  the  instability  of  human  nature,  and 
especially  of  the  female  sex,  easy  to  be  moved  by  whatso- 
ever wind  may  blow,  did  very  soon  make  the  contrary  to 


REFORM  OF  SANTA  MARIA.  105 

appear."  The  wise  regulation  which  Dominic  had  made 
was  evaded,  and  the  vituperating  tongues  were  busier 
than  ever.  There  were  no  terms  too  strong  to  use  in 
denouncing  the  proposed  migration  to  S.  Sixtus.  It 
would  be  the  destruction  of  an  ancient  and  honourable 
monastery ;  they  were  about  blindly  to  put  themselves 
under  an  intolerable  yoke  of  obedience,  and  to  whom  ? 
- — to  a  new  man,  a  "/rate,"  whose  order  nobody  had  ever 
heard  of  before — a  scoundrel  (ribaldo),  as  some  were 
pleased  to  term  him ;  they  must  certainly  have  been  be- 
witched. The.  nuns  began  to  think  so  too,  and  many 
repented  of  their  too  hasty  promise.  Whilst  this  new 
disturbance  was  going  on,  Dominic  was  relating  the  suc- 
cess of  his  mission  to  the  cardinals.  But  the  fresh  dis- 
orders which  had  arisen  were  revealed  to  him  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  even  at  the  moment  that  they  occurred.  He  re- 
solved to  let  the  excitement  exhaust  itself  a  little  before 
taking  any  new  measure;  and  a  day  or  two  afterwards 
proceeded  to  the  convent,  where,  having  said  mass,  he 
assembled  all  the  religious  in  chapter,  and  addressed  them 
at  considerable  length.  He  concluded  with  these  words: 
"  I  well  know,  my  daughters,  that  you  have  repented  of 
the  promise  you  gave  me,  and  now  desire  to  withdraw 
your  feet  from  the  ways  of  God.  Therefore,  let  those 
among  you  who  are  truly  and  spontaneously  willing  to  go 
to  S.  Sixtus  make  their  profession  over  again  in  my 
hands."  The  eloquence  of  his  address,  heightened  by 
that  strange  and  wonderful  charm  of  manner  to  which  all 
who  knew  him  bear  witness,  whilst  none  can  describe  it, 
was  victorious.  The  abbess  instantly  renewed  her  pro- 
fession (with  the  same  condition  respecting  the  picture), 
and  her  example  was  followed  by  the  whole  community. 
Dominic  was  well  satisfied  with  their  sincerity;  neverthe- 
less he  thought  it  well  to  add  one  precaution  against 
further  relapse.  It  was  a  simple  one,  and  consisted  of 
taking  the  keys  of  the  gate  into  his  own  custody,  and  ap- 
pointing some  of  his  own  lay  brothers  to  be  porters,  with 
orders  to  provide  the  nuns  with  all  necessaries,  but  to 
prevent  their  seeing  or  speaking  with  relatives  or  anV 
other  person  whatsoever. 


106  LIFE   OF  S.   DOMINIC. 

On  Ash  Wednesday,  which  fell  that  year  on  the  28th 
of  February,  the  cardinals  assembled  at  S.  Sixtus,  whither 
the  abbess  and  her  nuns  also  proceeded  in  solemn  pro- 
cession. They  met  in  the  little  chapter-house  before 
mentioned,  where  Dominic  raised  to  life  the  widow's 
child.  The  abbess  solemnly  surrendered  all  office  and 
authority  into  the  hands  of  Dominic  and  his  brethren; 
whilst  they,  on  their  part,  with  the  cardinals,  proceeded 
to  treat  concerning  the  rights,  government,  and  revenues 
of  the  new  convent.  Whilst  thus  engaged,  the  business 
of  the  assembly  was  suddenly  interrupted  by  an  incident 
which  is  best  told  in  the  language  of  one  of  the  eye- 
witnesses : — "  Whilst  the  blessed  Dominic  was  seated 
with  the  cardinals,  the  abbess  and  her  nuns  being 
present,  behold!  a  man  entered,  tearing  his  hair  and 
uttering  loud  cries.  Being  asked  the  cause,  he  replied, 
'  The  nephew  of  my  lord  Stephen  has  just  fallen  from 
his  horse,  and  is  killed !'  Now  the  young  man  was  called 
Napoleon.  His  uncle,  hearing  him  named,  sank  fainting 
on  the  breast  of  the  blessed  Dominic.  They  supported 
him ;  the  blessed  Dominic  rose,  and  threw  holy  water  on 
him ;  then,  leaving  him  in  the  arms  of  the  others,  he  ran 
to  the  spot  where  the  body  of  the  young  man  was  lying, 
bruised  and  horribly  mangled.  He  ordered  them  im- 
mediately to  remove  it  to  another  room,  and  keep  it 
there.  Then  he  desired  Brother  Tancred,  and  the  other 
brethren  to  prepare  everything  for  Mass.  The  blessed 
Dominic,  the  cardinals,  friars,  the  abbess  and  all  the 
nuns,  then  went  to  the  place  where  the  altar  was,  and 
the  blessed  Dominic  celebrated  the  Holy  Sacrifice  with 
an  abundance  of  tears.  But  when  he  came  to  the 
elevation  of  our  Lord's  Body,  and  held  it  on  high 
between  his  hands,  as  is  the  custom,  he  himself  was 
raised  a  palm  above  the  ground,  all  beholding  the  same, 
and  being  filled  with  great  wonder  at  the  sight.  Mass 
being  finished,  he  returned  to  the  body  of  the  dead  man ; 
he  and  the  cardinals,  the  abbess,  the  nuns,  and  all  the 
people  who  were  present  ;  and  when  he  was  come,  he 
arranged  the  limbs  one  after  another  with  his  holy  hand, 
then    prostrated    himself    on    the    ground,   praying    and 


SISTER   CECILIA.  107 

weeping.  Thrice  he  touched  the  face  and  limbs  of  the 
deceased,  to  put  them  in  their  place,  and  thrice  he 
prostrated  himself..  When  he  was  risen  for  the  third 
time,  standing  on  the  side  where  his  head  was,  he  made 
the  sign  of  the  cross ;  then  with  his  hands  extended 
towards  heaven,  his  body  raised  more  than  a  palm 
above  the  ground,  he  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying, 
1  0  young  man,  Napoleon,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  I  say  unto  thee,  Arise.'  Immediately,  in 
the  sight  of  all  those  who  had  been  drawn  together  by  so 
marvellous  a  spectacle,  the  young  man  arose  alive  and 
unhurt,  and  said  to  the  blesssed  Dominic,  *  Father,  give 
me  to  eat;'  and  the  blessed  Dominic  gave  him  to  eat 
and  to  drink,  and  committed  him,  joyful  and  without 
sign  of  hurt,  to  the  cardinal,  his  uncle."*  It  must  be 
acknowledged,  there  is  a  wonderful  grandeur  in  this 
narrative.  We  realize  at  once  the  alarm  and  emotion 
of  the  bystanders,  and  the  supernatural  calm  and  tran- 
quillity of  the  saint,  who  was  acting  under  the  Spirit  of 
God.  Never,  perhaps,  was  any  miracle  better  attested, 
or  more  accurately  described ;  and,  as  we  shall  hereafter 
see,  it  bor^  abundant  fruits. 

Four  days  after,  on  the  first  Sunday  in  Lent,  the  nuns 
took  possession  of  their  convent.  They  were  forty-four 
in  all,  including  a  few  seculars,  and  some  religious  of 
other  convents.  The  first  who  spontaneously  threw  her- 
self at  Dominic's  feet,  and  begged  the  habit  of  his  order, 
was  the  same  sister  Cecilia  whose  narrative  has  been 
just  quoted.  She  was  then  but  seventeen,  of  the  house 
of  Cesarini,  and  distinguished  for  the  great  qualities  of 
her  soul,  even  more  than  for  the  nobility  of  her  birth. 
Meagre  as  is  the  account  left  us  concerning  her,  we 
scarcely  feel  the  want  of  further  details,  for  her  character 
is  sufficiently  evidenced  in  the  little  which  is  preserved. 
She  had  a  soul  large  enough  to  appreciate  that  of 
Dominic.  Child  as  she  was,  she  had  been  quick  to 
recognize,  and  value  at  their  true  worth,  the  qualities 
of  that  mind  which  had  brought  into  order  the  tempes- 
tous  and  disorganized  elements  of  the  community  of 
*  Narrative  of  Sister  Cecillia. 


108  LIFE   OP   S.   DOMINIC. 

the  Trastevere.  Then  she  became  an  eye-witness  of  that 
great  miracle  which  we  have  just  related  in  her  own 
beautiful  language ;  and  the  admiration  which  she  had 
already  felt  for  him  was  raised  to  a  devotion  as  fervent 
as  it  was  lasting.  We  are  told  that  Dominic  com- 
municated to  her  the  most  hidden  secrets  of  his  heart  ; 
and  we  feel  in  reading  the  narative  which  she  has  left,  so 
noble  and  touching  in  its  biblical  simplicity,  that  she  was 
worthy  of  such  confidence.  Her  example  was  followed 
by  that  of  all  the  nuns  ;  all  received  the  habit  of  the  cew 
order,  and  took  the  vow  ofinclosure. 

Dominic  waited  until  night-fall  before  he  ventured  to 
remove  the  picture  so  often  named  ;  he  feared  lest  some 
excitement  and  disturbance  might  be  caused  by  this  be- 
ing done  in  broad  day,  for  the  people  of  the  city  felt  a 
jealous  unwillingness  to  suffer  it  to  depart.  However,  at 
midnight,  accompanied  by  the  two  cardinals,  Nicholas 
and  Stephen,  and  many  other  persons,  all  barefoot  and 
carrying  torches,  he  conducted  it  in  solemn  procession  to 
S.  Sixtus,  where  the  nuns  awaited  its  approach  with 
similar  marks  of  respect.  It  did  not  return  ;  and  its 
quiet  domestication  in  the  new  house  complete^  the  settle- 
ment of  the  nuns.  They  were  soon  after  joined  by 
twenty-one  others  from  various  other  houses,  and  thus  was 
formed  the  second  house  of  religious  women  living  under 
the  rule  of  S.  Dominic. 

CjOO — 

CHAPTER  XV 

Affairs  of  the  Order  in  France.  First  settlement  of  the  brethren 
at  the  convent  of  St.  James  at  Paris.  Foundation  at  Bologna 
Character  of  the  religious  houses  of  the  Order.  Settlement  of 
the  Friars  in  Spain  and  Portugal.  Brothers  Tancred  and  Henry 
of  Rome. 

Before  we  proceed  to  give  any  account  of  the  settle- 
ment of  S.  Dominic  at  the  convent  of  Santa  Sabina, 
whither  he  removed  after  that  of  S.  Sixtus  had  been 
given  up  to  the  nuns,  as"  just  related,  it  will  be  necessary 


FOUNDATION   AT   PARIS.  .    109 

for  us  to  speak  of  several  events  which  had  taken  place 
since  his  departure  from  Toulouse  in  the  autumn  of  the 
preceding  year.  Various  were  the  discouragements  and 
difficulties  which  had  attended  the  first  outset  of  the 
missionaries  sent  from  Prouille.  .  -;I)pminic  of  Segovia 
and  Michel  de  UzeroiiaJ  returned  from  Spain  without 
having  been  able  to'  succeed  in  establishing  themselves 
in  that  country ;  and  had  joined  their  brethren  in  Rome. 
The  little  community  destined  for  the  French  capital  had 
scarcely  fared  better,  and  might  possibly  have  abandoned 
their  project  in  a  similar  manner,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
presence  of  the  Englishman  Lawrence.  "  For  as  they 
drew  near  to  that  great  city,  they  went  along  in  great 
doubt  and  affliction,  because  in  their  humility  they 
greatly  feared  to  preach  in  so  celebrated  a  university, 
where  there  were  so  many  famous  doctors  and  masters 
versed  in  sacred  science  ;  but  Godwin  order  to  encourage 
them,  revealed  to  his  servant  Lawrence  all  that  should 
hereafter  happen  to  this  mission,  and  all  the  favours 
which  God  and  the  Blessed  Virgin  would  show  them 
in  the  house  of  S.  James,  and  all  the  bright  stars,  as 
well  of  sanctity  as  of  learning,  that  should  rise  from 
thence,  to  illuminate  not  the  order  only,  but  the  entire 
Church  ;  which  revelation,  as  it  greatly  comforted  the 
soul  of  brother  Lawrence,  so  he  in  like  manner  declared 
it  to  his  companions,  to  animate  them  also  ;  and  they 
believing  it,  for  the  opinion  which  all  had  of  the  sanctity 
of  that  servant  of  God,  conceived  a  lively  faith.  Where- 
fore they  joyfully  entered  into  the  city  where  all  things 
happened  as  he  had  predicted.  "* 

Notwithstanding  this  "joyful  entry,"  they  spent  ten 
months  in  extreme  distress.  None  of  them  were  known 
in  Paris  except  Matthew  of  France,  who  in  his  youth  had 
studied  at  the  university  ;  and  Lawrence  very  shortly 
after  was  summoned  to  Rome,  where  he  was  present,  as 
we  have  seen,  before  the  removal  of  the  Friars  from 
S.  Sixtus.  It  was  not  until  the  August  of  121*8,  nearly 
a  year  after  their  departure  from  Prouille,  that  John  de 

•  From  a  short  notice  of  blessed  Lawrence  in  Marchese's,  H  Diaro 
Dome/iicano,"  drawn  from  ancient  writers 


110  LIFE   OF  S.   DOMINIC. 

Barastre,  one  of  the  king's  chaplains  and  a  professor  of 
the  university,  having  been  struck  by  the  singular  effects 
of  their  preaching,  and  their  patient  endurance  of  so  much 
poverty  and  suffering,  persuaded  his  colleagues  to  grant 
them  the  little  c&srcJi  of  S.  James,  then  attached  to  an 
hospital  for  poor  strangers,  'aft^ffrards  the  most  celebrated 
house'  of  that  order.  But  besides  the  missionaries  whom 
he  had  already  sent  from  Prouille,  Dominic  had  not  been 
long  in  Rome  before  he  began  to  dispose  of  some  of  the 
followers  who  had  so  soon  been  gathered  there  about  his 
standard.  It  seems  certain  that  it  was  whilst  still  inhabi- 
ting S.  Sixtus,  that  John  of  Navarre  (who  had  returned 
with  Lawrence  from  Paris),  Brother  Bertrand,  Brother 
Christian,  and  Peter,  a  lay  brother,  were  despatched  to 
lay  the  first  foundation  of  the  order  in  Bologna.  Their 
preaching  soon  attracted  general  attention  ;  they  are  said 
to  have  been  the  first  religious  who  had  ever  been  heard 
to  preach  publicly  in  Bologna,  and  the  astonishment  and 
admiration  felt  for  their  eloquence  was  increased  when  it 
was  understood  that  they  were  the  children  of  Dominic, 
whose  name  was  not  unknown  to  the  Bolognese.  Two 
houses  were  soon  given  to  them,  with  the  accompanying 
grant  of  a  neighbouring  church,  called  Santa  Maria  della 
Mascarella.  They  were  soon  after  joined  by  the  two 
brethren  who  had  returned  from  Spain  and  a  few  others 
whom  Dominic  despatched  from  Borne  ;  but  they  had  to 
struggle  with  many  difficulties.  As  soon  as  they  could, 
they  began  to  arrange  their  house  into  a  conventual  form, 
building  a  very  humble  refectory  and  dormitory  ;  for  it 
seems  to  have  been  always  felt  as  ,a  first  and  indispensable 
requisite  in  these  early  foundations  of  the  order  to  have 
a  religious  house,  in  order  to  carry  out  their  rule  in  a  re- 
ligious spirit,  and  this  even  at  a  time  when  the  commu- 
nity consisted  of  no  more  than  four  or  five  persons.  That 
this  was  done  from  a  deep  conviction  of  the  utility  and 
necessity  of  such  external  observances,  and  not  from  a 
love  of  show,  or  a  desire  to  build  great  establishments,  is 
evident  if  we  look  at  the  way  in  which  it  was  done.  "  As 
well  as  they  could"  (we  are  told  in  the  account  of  this 
Bolognese  foundation),    "  considering  the   confined  space, 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  EIRST  HOUSES.  Ill 

they  made  a  dormitory  and  refectory,  with  other  necessary 
offices ;  their  cells  were  so  small,  that  they  were  not  more 
than  seven  feet  long  and  four  feet  two  inches  wide,  so  that 
they  could  scarce  contain  a  hard  and  narrow  bed  and  a 
few  other  things;  hut  they  were  more  content  with  this 
poor  habitation  than  if  they  had  possessed  the  largest  and 
most  magnificent  palaces."*  Here  they  led  "a  life  of 
angels;"  and  "so  wonderful  was  their  regular  observance, 
and  their  continual  and  fervent  prayer  ;  so  extraordinary 
their  poverty  in  eating,  in  their  beds  and  clothes,  and  all 
such  things,  that  never  had  the  like  been  seen  before  in  that 
city."  They  continued  to  live  in  this  way,  without  making 
much  progress,  and,  in  spite  of  their  first  favourable  recep- 
tion, enduring  many  affronts  and  persecutions,  until  the 
end  of  the  year  1218,  when,  as  we  shall  see,  a  fresh  impulse 
was  given  to  their  enterprise  by  the  arrival  among  them  ot 
one  man,  the  celebrated  Reginald  of  Orleans. 

Certainly,  if  we  wish  to  form  an  idea  of  the  true  spirit 
of  the  order,  we  cannot  do  better  than  dwell  on  what  is 
preserved  to  us  concerning  the  manner  of  these  first  foun- 
dations. Throughout  all  of  them  we  shall  find  the  same 
characteristics.  The  great  missionary  work  of  preaching 
and  saving  souls  was  the  first  thing  thought  of;  every- 
thing gave  way  to  that.  They  were  scattered  abroad  right 
and  left,  as  soon  as  they  had  given  themselves  to  the  work, 
for  Dominic  never  departed  from  the  inflexible  law  which 
he  had  laid  down  at  Prouille: — "We  must  sow  the  seed, 
and  not  hoard  it  up."  Doubtless  there  must  often  have 
been  hard  sacrifices  and  struggles  with  nature  in  this; 
his  children  were  separated  from  him  as  soon  as  they  had 
learnt  to  love  him;  and,  to  use  the  expression  of  blessed 
Jordan,  in  speaking  of  his  departure  from  Bologna  on  a 
late  occasion,  "  they  wept  to  be  so  soon  taken  from  their 
mother's  breast."  "  But  all  these  things,"  he  adds, 
"  happened  by  the  will  of  God.  There  was  something 
marvellous  in  the  way  in  which  he  was  wont  to  disperse 
the  brethren  here  and  there  through  all  parts  of  the 
Church  of  God,  in  spite  of  all  the  representations  often 
made  to  him,  and  without  his  confidence  being  once  dis 
*  Michel  Pio  of  Bologna. 


112  LIFE  OF  S.  DOMINIC. 

quieted  by  a  shadow  of  hesitation.  One  might  have  said 
he  knew  beforehand  their  success,  and  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  had  revealed  it  to  him;  and  indeed  who  would 
dare  to  doubt  it  ?  He  had  with  him  to  begin  but  a  small 
number  of  brethren,  for  the  most  part  simple  and  illiterate, 
whom  he  sent  through  the  world  by  twos  and  threes;  so 
that  the  children  of  the  world,  who  judge  according  to 
human  prudence,  were  wont  to  accuse  him  of  destroying 
what  he  had  begun,  rather  than  of  building  up  a  great 
edifice.  But  he  accompanied  those  whom  he  sent  forth 
with  his  prayer ;  and  the  power  of  God  was  granted  to  them 
to  multiply  them." 

But  though  this  was  the  first  thought,  it  wa3  never  so 
followed  out  as  to  induce  the  neglect  of  the  fundamentals 
of  religious  observance.  The  Friars  Preachers  were  to 
sacrifice  all  comfort,  and  all  human  ties  for  the  work  of 
God  ;  they  were  to  endure  poverty,  humiliation,  and 
detachment  of  heart  in  its  most  painful  form ;  but  one 
thing  they  were  not  to  sacrifice,  and  that  was  the  character 
of  religious,  and  the  habits  of  regular  observance.  Whilst 
they  begged  their  bread,  and  lived  on  alms,  the  first  thing 
on  which  those  alms  were  expended  was  the  rude  and 
imperfect  conversion  of  their  poor  dwellings  into  a  re- 
ligious shape.  We  feel  at  once  how  different  such  a 
plan  of  proceeding  is  from  our  modern  notions ;  and  the 
difference  is  more  important  than  appears  at  first  sight. 
"  Let  us  have  essentials,"  is  the  favourite  expression  of 
our  own  day ;  "let  us  only  do  our  work ;  the  external 
forms  are  of  secondary  importance."  But  the  language 
of  the  saints  and  the  men  of  faith  was  rather,  "  Let  us 
have  the  religious  spirit,  for  without  it  our  work  will  be 
of  no  avail;"  and  in  their  deep  and  living  humility  they 
acknowledged  that  they  were  powerless  to  retain  this 
spirit,  made  up  as  it  is  of  prayer  and  recollection  £.nd 
continual  self-restraint,  without  certain  external  helps  and 
hindrances  which  modern  theorists  feel  themselves  privi- 
leged to  despise.  Every  part  of  the  Dominican  rule  and 
constitutions  breathes  of  this  principle;  whilst  the  salva- 
tion of  souls  is  ever  placed  before  us  as  the  end  and 
object  of  the  order,  the  formation  of  the  religious  man 


CHARACTER   OF    THE   FIRST   HOUSES.  113 

himself  is  provided  for  by  regulations  of  the  most  aston- 
ishing minuteness;  and  as  a  part,  and  an  essential  part, 
of  these,  there  is  given  us  the  beautiful  ordering  of  the, 
religious  house 

We  do  not  mean  to  assert  that  this  necessary  con- 
nection between  the  outward  form  and  the  inward  spirit 
is  anywhere  stated  in  express  terms,  for  there  was  not 
much  talk  about  theories  and  general  principles  among 
men  in  the  Middle  Ages ;  yet,  perhaps  unconsciously  to 
themselves,  they  ever  acted  under  a  deep  prevailing 
sense  of  this  sacramental  character  of  our  being.  They 
believed  that  not  in  soul  alone,  but  also  in  body,  the 
whole  nature  was  to  be  made  subject  to  Christ ;  and  with 
the  simplicity  of  antique  wisdom,  they  condescended  to 
provide  for  this  by  making  laws,  not  only  for  their  work 
and  their  prayer,  but  even  for  their  houses  and  their 
dress.  The  religious  man  was  ever  to  be  surrounded  by 
an  atmosphere  redolent  with  sanctity;  he  was  to  reflect 
a  light  of  holiness  cast  on  him  by  the  very  walls  of  his 
dwelling.  Nothing,  therefore,  was  neglected  by  which 
they  could  be  invested  with  this  peculiar  character. 
They  were  the  mould  in  which  souls  were  insensibly 
to  receive  a  shape  that  separated  them  from  the  world. 
The  amateurs  of  ecclesiastical  architecture  tell  us  that, 
in  its  purest  form,  no  ornament  will  ever  be  found 
introduced  for  ornament's  sake;  there  was  always  a 
use  and  significance  in  the  most  fanciful  and  grotesque 
of  those  elaborate  designs.  And  so  in  the  conventual 
house,  common  and  necessary  things  were  not  exchanged 
for  what  was  fanciful  or  extraordinary;  but  a  religious 
form  and  colouring  was  given  to  the  whole.  Thus  the 
man  who  was  being  trained  to  the  life  of  religion  was 
placed  where  he  saw  nothing  that  did  not  harmonize 
with  that  one  idea.  His  refectory  was  as  unlike  a 
dining-room  as  possible  :  it  was  as  much  a  room  to 
pray  in,  as  to  eat  in.  There,  ranged  in  a  single  row 
behind  the  simple  wooden  tables  that  stood  on  either 
hand,  sat  the  same  white  robed  figures  beside  whom  he 
stood  in  the  choir,  and  with  an  air  scarcely  less  modest 
and  devout.      At   the   top   was  the   Prior's  seat ;    there 

I 


114  LIFE  OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

were  neither  pictures  nor  ornaments  on  the  wall,  only 
a  large  crucifix  above  that  seat,  to  which  all  were  to  bow 
on  entering;  for  even  in  hours  of  relaxation  the  religious 
man  was  to  be  mindful  of  the  sufferings  of  his  Lord. 
There  was  no  talking  or  jesting  as  in  the  feasting  of  the 
world,  for  the  refectory  was  a  place  of  inviolable  silence ; 
but  from  a  little  pulpit  one  of  the  brethren  read  aloud 
(as  we  have  seen  brother  Henry  represented  doing  in 
the  scene  of  S.  Sixtus),  that,  to  use  the  words  of  the  old 
rule  of  S.  Austin,  "  whilst  the  body  was  refreshed,  the 
soul  also  might  have  its  proper  food."  The  house  was 
to  be  poor  and  simple,  having  "  no  curiosities  or  notable 
superfluities,  such  as  sculpture,  pavements,  and  the  like, 
save  in  the  church,"  where  some  degree  of  ornament  was 
allowed  to  do  reverence  to  the  presence  of  God.  The 
dormitory  too  had  its  own  character;  the  cells  were  all 
alike  in  size  and  arrangement,  for  here  all  were  equal. 
They  were  separate,  that  every  one  might  be  silent  and 
alone  with  God;  yet  partly  open,  that  the  watchful  eye 
of  the  superior  might  never  be  shut  out.  Even  the 
dormitory-passage  itself  had  something  holy ;  for  it  was 
ordained,  that  "  to  promote  piety  and  devotion  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  the  especial  Patroness  of  the  order,  an 
altar  with  her  image  should  be  erected  in  the  dormitory 
of  every  convent,"  and  here  the  lamp  was  kept  burning 
throughi  the  night.  Each  of  these  places  had  its  own 
sweet  tradition.  Angels,  as  we  have  seen,  have  before 
now  served  in  the  Dominican  refectories  ;  nor,  as  we 
gaze  on  such  a  scene,  do  we  feel  they  were  out  of  place  ; 
and  the  dormitories  have  been  blessed  no  less  than  the 
choir  with  the  sweet  presence  of  Mary,  who  through 
those  open  doors  has  given  her  benediction  to  the 
sleeping  brethren,  and  sprinkled  them  with  her  dear 
maternal  hand.  Surely  these  houses  were  as  the  gate 
of  heaven.  All  about  them  were  holy  sentences,  preach- 
ing from  the  walls ;  poverty  reigned  everywhere,  but 
clad  in  the  beauty  and  majesty  of  that  spirit  of  order, 
which  lias  been  fitly  termed,  "  the  music  of  the  eye." 
All  things  were  in  common,  and  common  things  were 
made  to  speak  of  God;  yet  there  was  neither  gloom  nor 


CHARACTER   OF   THE   FIRST   HOUSES.  115 

melancholy,  but  rather  a  glad  and  cheerful  aspect,  tempered 
by  the  pervading  tone  of  silence  and  recollection  ;  so  that 
the  beholder  might  well  exclaim,  "  How  good  and  joyful  a 
thing  it  is  for  brethren  to  dwell  together  in  unity  !" 

At  the  risk  of  being  tedious  on  a  subject  which  may 
not  perhaps  be  felt  to  be  of  general  interest,  we  would 
but  suggest  how  often  we  must  feel,  in  reading  the 
earlier  devotional  writers,  that  many  of  their  most 
charming  passages  could  only  have  been  inspired  in  a 
house  of  this  character.  The  author  of  the  following 
sentences  had  certainly  caught  their  spirit  nowhere  but 
in  a  religious  refectory  :  "  He  that  reads  words  of  holy 
wisdom  to  his  brother,  offers  choice  wine  to  the  lips  of 
Jesus. — He  that  at  table  gives  up  to  his  brother  the 
better  portion,  feeds  Jesus  with  the  honey  of  charity.— 
He  that  during  refection  reads  to  his  brethren  correctly 
and  distinctly,  serves  up  a  heavenly  cup  to  the  guests  of 
Jesus;  but  if  he  reads  ill,  he  takes  away  the  relish  of 
the  food;  and  if  he  stammers,  he  stains  the  cloth  which 
covers  the  table  of  Jesus. — He  that  goes  to  the  common 
refectory  with  his  brethren  to  hear  spiritual  reading, 
eateth  and  drinketh  with  Jesus  and  His  disciples  ;  and  if 
he  lay  up  in  his  heart  the  word  of  God  which  he  hears, 
he  reposes  with  S.  John,  during  supper,  on  the  breast 
of  Jesus."*  Writing  in  a  day,  and  in  a  country  where 
our  holy  and  beautiful  houses  have  long  ago  been  swept 
away,  and  the  ideas  that  raised  them  have  become  lost 
like  historical  antiquities,  we  well  know  how  difficult  it 
is  to  realize  the  true  significance  of  the  monastic  rules. 
They  and  all  their  accompaniments  are  looked  on  as,  at 
best,  but  dreary  fancies  which  have  had  their  day,  but 
could  never  stand  the  test  of  utility.  "  To  what  purpose 
is  this  waste?"  is  the  continual  cry  of  England  over  the 
relics  of  her  old  religion.  Nevertheless  our  fathers  had 
their  purpose,  and  did  not  deem  it  waste;  and  we  are 
desirous  of  directing  our  reader's  attention  to  the 
particular  care  evinced  in  this  matter  by  the  founder 
of  the  Dominican  order,  because,  if  we  do  not  mistake, 
it  illustrates  one  prominent  characteristic  of  his  own 
*  Thomas  a  Kempis,  Garden  of  Ross,  ch.  xvii. 


116  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

mind,  as  well  as  of  the  institution  which  was  its  off- 
spring,, and  which  bore  and  ever  retains  the  likeness  of 
its  father.  The  life  of  a  saint  like  S.  Dominic  is  not 
made  up  alone  of  journeys  and  foundations  and  the  dates 
of  his  birth  and  death ;  his  living  soul  is  to  be  found  in 
the  rule  whose  most  striking  features  were  the  im- 
pression of  his  own  hand :  and  it  is  not  a  little  remark- 
able that,  together  with  that  free  and  pliable  spirit  which 
is  one  of  its  distinguishing  characters,  there  should  be 
this  invariable  adhesion  to  the  externals  of  monastic  and 
community  life.  The*  same  ruie  was  observed  in  all  the 
foundations  of  the  order,  and  this  of  course  by  the 
particular  direction  of  its  founder;  and  the  fact  reveals 
more  of  his  mind  and  feeling  than  whole  volumes  of 
commentary.  It  exhibits  him  to  us  in  that  mixed  char- 
acter of  contemplation  and  action,  the  union  of  which  is 
the  basis  of  the  Dominican  life :  we  see  him  at  once, 
"the  Jacob  of  preaching  and  the  Israel  of  contempla- 
tion;" and  we  see  also  what  in  his  eyes  constituted  the 
essentials  of  such  a  life,  and  the  indispensable  means  for 
attaining  it. 

In  Spain  blessed  Peter  had  succeeded  in  founding 
a  convent  at  Madrid,  of  which  foundation,  however,  no 
particulars  are  preserved.  Two  of  his  companions,  as  we 
have  seen,  returned  to  rejoin  Dominic  at  Rome,  whilst 
the  third,  Suero  Gomez,  went  on  to  his  native  country  of 
Portugal,  where  he  became  known  to  the  Infanta  Donna 
Sancha,  who  gave  him  a  little  solitary  oratory  on  Monte 
Sagro,  about  six  miles  from  Alancher,  dedicated  to  Santa 
Maria  ad  Nvves.  Here  he  built  a  miserably  poor  con- 
vent, or  father  hermitage,  formed  of  stones  and  straw 
cemented  together  with  mud,  "according  to  the  manner 
of  those  first  days  of  fervour  in  the  order."  He  lived  in 
this  singular  dwelling  alone  for  some  time,  but  very  soon 
numbers  of  all  ranks  flocked  to  him  to  receive  the  habit 
from  his  hands-;  and  "though  they  were  so  many,  and 
of  such  character  and  nobility  as  might  have  done 
honour  to  any  order  in  the  Chnrch,  yet  did  he  not 
bate  one  iota  in  the  rigours  which  he  had  learnt  from 
his  holy  master,  and  which  were  established  as  laws  in  tho 


BROTHERS  TANCRED  AND  HENRY  OF  ROME.    117 

constitutions."*  Every  day  he  preached  in  the  city,  which 
8X)n  became  renowned  for  its  sanctity  of  manners.  He 
was  a  true  son  of  Dominic,  "  thinking  only  how  to  sow  the 
Divine  word,  and  caring  nothing  for  his  own  body ;  "  and 
bo,  little  by  little,  the  mud  hermitage  was  frequented 
like  a  place  of  pilgrimage,  and  the  crowds  who  thronged 
there  to  see  and  hear  one  whom  they  reckoned  rather 
as '  an  angel  or  apostle  than  as  a  common  man,  com- 
pelled him  to  enlarge  his  dwelling  in  order  to  receive 
them ;  so  that  in  the  following  year,  when  Dominic 
himself  visited  the  spot,  he  found  a  spacious  and  well- 
ordered  convent,  the  mother-house  of  the  order  in  Por- 
tugal. Suero  was  in  every  way  a  remarkable  man  : 
his  adherence  to  the  rule,  even  in  the  minutest  par- 
ticular, was  almost  a  proverb.  In  1220,  when  he  went 
to  Bologna  to  attend  the  first  general  Chapter,  he  per- 
formed the  whole  journey  on  foot,  carrying  only  a 
stick  and  his  breviary,  and  so  begged  his  way  the 
entire  distance.  He  became  afterwards  the  first  Provincial 
of  Spain. 

It  only  remains  for  us  to  add  a  few  words  concerning 
some  of  the  brethren  whose  names  have  already  been 
mentioned  as  having  joined  the  order  at  Rome.  Tancred, 
the  prior  of  S.  Sixtus,  had  been  called  in  a  singular  way. 
He  was  a  German,  and  a  courtier  of  the  Emperor 
Frederic  II.  Being  at  Bologna  when  the  first  brethren 
arrived  there,  he  was  one  day  made  sensible  of  a  singular 
and  powerful  impression  on  his  soul,  urging  him  to  reflect 
on  the  great  question  of  eternity  in  a  manner  wholly 
new  to  him.  Disturbed  and  agitated,  he  prayed  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin  for  direction ;  and  in  the  night  she 
appeared  to  him,  saying  these  words :  "  Gro  to  my  house- 
hold." He  awoke  in  doubt  as  to  their  meaning,  but  in 
a  second  dream  there  appeared  to  him  two  men  dressed 
in  the  habit  of  the  order,  the  elder  of  whom  addressed 
him,  saying,  "  Thou  hast  asked  of  Mary  to  be  directed 
in  the  way  of  salvation :  come  with  us,  and  thou  shalt  find 
it."  In  the  morning  he  begged  his  host  to  direct  him  to 
the  nearest  church,  that  he  might  hear  mass.  As  he 
*  Michel  Pio 


118  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

entered,  the  first  figure  he  met  was  that  of  the  old  man  he 
had  seen  in  his  vision ;  the  church  was  in  fact  Santa 
Maria,  in  Mascarella,  and  the  friar  was  none  other  than 
the  Prior  Roger.  Tancred's  mind  was  soon  made  up  as  to 
his  future  course ;  and,  abruptly  severing  his  engagements 
with  the  court  he  proceeded  to  Rome,  where  he  took  the 
habit.  Henry  of  Rome,  who  has  also  been  mentioned, 
entered  the  order  against  the  earnest  remonstrances  of 
his  family.  As  they  expressed  a  determination  to  carry 
him  back  by  force  if  he  would  not  return,  Dominic  sent 
him  out  of  Rome,  with  some  companions,  by  the  Via 
Nomentana.  His  relatives  pursued  him  as  far  as  the 
banks  of  the  Anio.  Seeing  there  was  no  chance  of  escape, 
Henry  raised  his  heart  to  God,  and  invoked  His  help 
through  the  merits  of  His  servant  Dominic;  and  the 
waters  of  the  little  stream  suddenly  increased  to  so  large 
and  rapid  a  torrent,  that  the  horses  of  his  pursuers  were 
unable  to  pass.  After  this  he  returned  undisturbed  to 
S.  Sixtus. 

After  the  sisters  had  removed  to  that  convent,  thirty  of 
the  friars  were  left  there  under  the  government  of  Tancred, 
but  in  a  distinct  and  separate  house ;  for  the  convent  at 
Santa  Sabina  was  not  yet  able  to  contain  them  all.  Brother 
Otho,  also  a  Roman  by  birth,  was  appointed  the  prior  and 
director  of  the  nuns. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Dominic  at  Santa  Sabina.  The  Vocation  of  S.  Hyacinth.  Regi- 
nald of  Orleans.  The  Blessed  Virgin  bestows  on  him  the  habit 
of  the  order. 

It  is  said  that  all  lives  have  their  chapter  of  poetry ; 
if  so,  the  poem  of  Dominic's  life  is  now  opening  before 
us.  No  period  of  his  history  is  at  once  so  rich  in 
legendary  beauty,  and  so  full  of  ample  and  delightful 
details,  as  that  of  his  residence  at  Santa  Sabina — the 
church  which,  as  we  have  already  said,  had  been  granted 


CONVENT  OF  SANTA  SABINA.         119 

to  him  and  his  brethren  by  Pope  Honorius  when  they 
abandoned  S.  Sixtus  to  the  nuns  of  the  Trastevere.  It 
was  attached  to  the  palace  of  the  Savelli,  of  which  family 
Honorius  was  a  member  ;  and  we  are  told  that  the 
change  of  residence  was  particularly  welcome  to  the 
friars,  inasmuch  as  the  neighborhood  was  at  that  time 
more  thickly  populated  than  that  of  S.  Sixtus,  and  the 
church  was  one  of  popular  resort.  This  character  has 
long  since  departed  from  it ;  and  the  tide  of  population, 
retreating  every  year  further  and  further  to  the  west, 
has  left  the  Aventine  hill  once  more  to  its  silent  and 
solitary  beauty.  Built  on  the  brow  of  tha£  hill,  as  it 
rises  abruptly  above  the  Tiber,  the  convent  of  Santa 
Sabina  stands  between  the  ancient  and  the  modern  city. 
On  one  side  it  looks  over  a  long  vista  of  churches  and 
palaces,  until  the  golden  glow  of  the  horizon  above  Monte 
Mario  is  cut  by  the  clear  sharp  outline  of  that  wonderful 
dome  which  rises  over  the  tomb  of  the  apostles.  Turn 
but  your  head,  and  you  gaze  over  a  different  world. 
Heaped  all  about  in  fantastic  confusion,  there  are  the 
arches  of  gigantic  ruins,  and  the  broken  walls  and 
watch-towers  standing  among  the  vineyards;  and  beyond 
them  is  the  wide  Campagna  stretching  like  a  sea  into 
the  dim  horizon,  spanned  by  the  long  lines  of  the 
aqueducts,  that  seem  as  though  they  reached  the  very 
base  of  those  distant  mountains  which  stand  round  the 
Eternal  city  as  "the  hills  stand  about  Jerusalem."  S. 
Sixtus  is  not  far  off,  you  may  find  your  way  down  to 
it  through  the  green  and  pleasant  lanes  that  wind  among 
the  almond-trees  ;  everything  here  seems  full  of  Dominic  ; 
and  when  the  story  of  his  life  has  become  dear  and  familiar 
to  us,  the  whole  of  the  Aventine  seems  consecrated  as  his 
shrine.* 

-::-  The  convent  of  Santa  Pabina  remains  little  altered  since  the 
timeof  S.  Dominic,  and  many  memorials  of  him  are  still  preserved 
within  its  walls.  Among  others  is  an  orange-tree  said  to  have  been 
planted  by  his  hand,  which  is  shown  ki  the  quadrangular  inclosure. 
A  few  years  since,  this  tree  sent  out  a  young  and  viaourous  sucker, 
which  grew  aud  flourished,  and  in  the  course  of  the  year  18:4 
produced  flowers  and  fruit.  It  was  remarked  that  this  took  place 
during  the  noviciate  of  Pere  Lacordaire  and  his  companions,  to 


120  LIFE   OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

It  was  here,  then,  that  the  friars  removed  as  soon  as 
the  nuns  had  taken  possession  of  their  former  residence; 
and  they  had  not  long  settled  in  their  new  consent  when 
some  very  remarkable  additions  were  made  to  their  num- 
bers. Ivo  Odrowatz,  the  Polish  Bishop  of  Cracow,  was 
at  that  time  in  Rome,  having  in  his  company  his  two 
nephews,  Ceslaus  and  Hyacinth,  both  of  them  canons 
of  his  cathredral,  and  men  of  singular  virtue.  They 
had  all  been  present  in  S.  Sixtus  on  the  occasion  of  the 
raising  of  the  young  Napoleon  to  life,  and  when,  by 
means  of  Cardinal  Ugolino,  they  became  personally 
acquainted  with  Dominic,  the  deep  impression  made  on 
their  minds  by  that  scene  was  increased  by  his  saintly 
and  winning  manners.  Ivo  urged  him  to  send  some  of 
his  brethren  to  the  northern  countries,  but  the  difficulties 
of  the  language  seemed  to  offer  an  insuperable  obstacle 
to  this  plan  ;  Dominic,  however,  suggested  that  were 
some  of  his  own  followers  to  take  the  habit,  it  would  be 
the  best  way  of  carrying  out  his  wishes.  A  few  days 
after  this  Hyacinth  and  Ceslaus,  with  two  others,  Henry 

whom  is  due  the  restoration  of  the  French  province ;  and  the  little 
incident  was  hailed  as  significant  of  that  universal  restoration  and 
return  to  youthful  vigour  and  the  beauty  of  regular  discipline 
whose  impulse  since  tuat  period  has  been  manifested  throughout 
the  entire  order . 

A  singular  discovery  has  recently  been  made  within  the  inclosure 
of  this  convent.  '  About  three  months  ago"  (says  Cardinal  Wise- 
man in  his  lecture  on  "  Rome,  Ancient  and  Modern,"  delivered 
January  31,18  6,)  "  the  good  religious  wi  -hed  to  make  an  alteration 
in  their  garden,  and  reduce  it  more  into  the  English  style.  They 
were,  of  course,  their  own  workmen ,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
their  industry  was  repaid.  They  met  with  an  opening,  into  which 
they  entered,  and  found  an  anci  nt  Chri.-tian  hall  elegantly  painted 
in  arabesque.  Having  cleared  it  out,  they  found  an  entrance  into 
another  chamber.  In  this  way  they  went  forward  from  room  to 
room ;  so  that  when  I  last  heard,  about  a  fortnight  fsgo,  they  were 
arrived  at  the  tenth  apartment.  The  discovery  has  exc  ted  immense 
interest,  no  suspicion  having  been  entertained  of  such  a  monument 
existing  there.  One  room  is  covered  with  names  of  about  the  third 
or  fourth  century,  only  one  of  which  had  then  been  deciphered. 
But  this  excavation  is  further  important  in  another  way.  For  the 
first  piece  of  antiquity  discovered  was  a  portion  of  the  wall  of 
Tullius,  the  early  king  of  Rome;  and  fhis  recurring  at  a  distance 
from  a  portion  found,  a  few  years  ago,  in  the.Iesuit's  neighbouring 
vineyard,  in  planting  new  vines,  decides  the  direction  of  the  wall, 
and  the  boundary  ol  the  primitive  city." 


VOCATION   OF   S.    HYACINTH.  121 

of  Moravia,  and  Herman,  a  noble  German,  presented 
themselves  at  Santa  Sabina,  and,  throwing  themselves 
at  the  feet  of  the  saint,  begged  to  be  allowed  to  enter 
the  order.  They  were  joyfully  received,  and  their  pro- 
gress was  as  rapid  as  it  was  extraordinary.  Doubtless 
in  those  days  of  early  fervour,  the  growth  of  souls  plant- 
ed in  a  very  atmosphere  of  sanctity  was  quicker  and 
more  vigorous  than  now  ;  and  we  are  led  to  exclaim, 
"  There  were  giants  in  those  days,"  when  we  find  these 
four  novices,  within  six  months  after  their  first  admission, 
ready  to  return  to  their  own  country  to  be  the  founders 
and  propagators  of  the  order.  They  travelled  back  with 
the  bishop  of  Cracow,  preaching  as  they  went.  Sapara- 
tion,  that  law  of  the  Dominican  institute,  was  the  lot 
that  awaited  them  also.  Hyacinth  and  Ceslaus  pursued 
their  way  to  the  north,  where  they  divided  the  land  be- 
tween them.  Ceslaus  planted  the  order  in  Bohemia, 
whilst  the  apostolate  of  Hyacinth  extended  over  Russia, 
Sweden,  Norway,  Prussia,  and  the  Northern  nations  of 
Asia.  Dominic's  old  dream  of  a  mission  to  the  Cumans 
became  realized  in  the  labours  of  this  the  greatest  of  his 
sons,  and  in  him  the  order  of  Friars  Preachers  took 
possession  of  half  the  known  world.  Henry  proceeded 
to  Styria  and  Austria,  and  founded  many  convents,  es- 
pecially that  of  Vienna.  An  account  of  singular  beauty 
is  left  of  his  death.  He  fell  sick  in  the  convent  of 
Wrateslavia  ;  and  finding  his  last  hour  draw  near,  he 
fixed  his  eyes  on  a  crucifix  before  him,  and  sang  sweetly 
while  he  had  strength.  After  a  little  space  he  was  silent, 
yet  smiled,  and  put  his  hands  together,  and  showed 
in  his  eyes  and  his  whole  face  a  great  and  inexplicable 
joy.  Then,  after  a  brief  time  he  spake  and  said,  "  The 
demons  are  come,  and  would  fain  disturb  and  trouble  my 
faith,  but  I  believe  in  God  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost  :"  and  with  these  words  on  his  lips  he 
gently  expired.  Herman,  the  fourth  of  this  society,  was 
left  at  Friesach  to  govern  a  convent  founded  in  that 
place.  He  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  devotion,  though 
of  small  learning.  In  consequence  of  his  simplicity  and 
ignorance   he   was  often   despised   and  ridiculed  by  his 


122  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

companions ;  and,  seeking  comfort  from  God  in  prayer,  lie 
obtained  the  gift  of  so  much  understanding  of  the  holy 
Scriptures  that,  without  study  of  any  kind,  he  was  enabled 
to  preach  not  only  in  German,  but  also  in  Latin,  with 
extraordinary  eloquence  and  success. 

But  another  disciple  was  to  be  gathered  into  the  order 
during  this  same  year,  whose  career,  if  shorter  than 
any  of  those  we  have  mentioned,  was  scarcely  less  bril- 
liant; and  who  was  destined  to  exercise  a  considerable 
influence  over  some  of  the  most  important  of  the  early 
foundations.  Indeed,  there  were  singular  marks  of  a 
Providential  ordering  of  things,  in  what  seemed  the  acci- 
dental assembling  at  Rome  that  year  of  so  many  men 
whose  hearts  were  ready  for  the  work  which  was  prepar- 
ing for  them  there.  Among  these  he  of  whom  we  are 
about  to  speak  was  not  the  least  distinguished.  Reginald, 
deacon  of  the  church  of  Orleans,  had  come  there,  in 
company  with  the  bishop,  with  the  intention  of  visiting 
the  holy  place,  and  thence  passing  on  in  pilgrimage  to 
Jerusalem.  He  was  already  known  as  a  profound  doctor 
in  canon  law,  and  held  the  chair  of  that  science  in  the 
University  of  Paris.  But  brilliant  as  was  his  intellect, 
and  the  renown  which  it  had  procured  him,  it  did  not 
satisfy  him  ;  for  he  had  within  him  something  greater 
than  genius,  and  a  thirst  which  the  world's  applause 
could  not  satiate.  Whilst  the  world  of  Paris  was  busy 
with  his  fame,  there  had  come  upon  him  a  desire  to 
abandon  all  things  for  Christ,  and  to  take  refuge  from 
popular  applause  in  some  state  where  he  could  spend 
his  life  for  the  souls  of  others,  while  his  own  should  be 
made  a  sharer  in  the  very  poverty  and  nakedness  of 
the  crucifix.  His  pilgrimage  to  Rome  and  Jerusalem 
was  undertaken  under  this  idea :  it  formed  part  of  his 
plan  for  breaking  loose  from  the  ties  of  his  present  life, 
and  searching  for  the  better  part  to  which  he  felt  he  was 
called  and  chosen.  The  result  must  be  told  in  the  words 
of  blessed  Humbert :  "  He  prepared  himself  for  this 
ministry,  therefore,  though  he  knew  not  in  what  way 
he  was  to  carry  it  out ;  for  he  was  ignorant  that  the 
order   of   Friars   Preachers  had   as  yet  been  instituted. 


REGINALD   OF    ORLEANS.  123 

Now  it  chanced  that  in  a  confidential  discourse  with 
a  certain  cardinal  he  opened  to  him  his  whole  heart  on 
this  matter,  saying  to  him  that  he  greatly  desired  to 
quit  all  things  in  order  to  go  about  preaching  Jesus 
Christ  in  a  state  of  voluntary  poverty.  Then  the  cardi- 
nal said  to  him,  '  Lo !  there  is  an  order  just  risen  up, 
whose  end  is  to  unite  the  practice  of  poverty  with  the 
office  of  preaching ;  and  the  master  of  this  new  order  is 
even  now  present  with  us  in  the  city,  who  also  himself 
preaches  the  word  of  God.'  Now  when  Master  Reginald 
heard  this,  he  hastened  to  seek  out  the  blessed  Dominic, 
and  to  reveal  to  him  the  secret  of  his  soul.  *Then  the 
sight  of  the  saint,  and  the  graciousness  of  his  words, 
captivated  his  heart,  and  he  resolved  to  enter  into  the 
order.  But  adversity,  which  proves  so  many  holy  pro- 
jects, failed  not  in  like  manner  to  try  his  also.  He  fell 
sick,  so  that  the  physicians  despaired  even  of  saving  his 
life.  The  blessed  Dominic,  grieving  at  the  thought  of 
losing  a  child  ere  as  yet  he  had  scarcely  enjoyed  him, 
turned  himself  to  the  Divine  mercy,  earnestly  imploring 
God  (as  he  himself  has  related  to  the  brethren)  that  He 
would  not  take  from  him  a  son  as  yet  but  hardly  born, 
but  at  least  to  prolong  his  life,  if  it  were  but  a  little 
while.  And  even  whilst  he  yet  prayed,  the  Blessed 
Virgin  Mary,  Mother  of  God,  and  Mistress  of  the  World, 
accompanied  by  two  young  maidens  of  surpassing  beauty, 
appeared  to  Master  Reginald  as  he  lay  awake  and  parched 
with  a  burning  fever ;  and  he  heard  the  Queen  of  Heaven 
speaking  to  him,  and  saying,  'Ask  me  what  thou  wilt, 
and  I  will  give  it  to  thee.'  And  as  he  considered 
within  himself,  one  of  the  maidens  who  accompanied 
the  Blessed  Virgin  suggested  to  him  that  he  should 
ask  nothing,  but  should  leave  it  to  the  will  and  pleasure 
of  the  Queen  of  Mercy,  to  the  which  he  right  willingly 
assented.  Then  she,  extending  her  virginal  hand, 
anointed  his  eyes,  ears,  nostrils,  mouth,  hands,  reins,  and 
feet,  pronouncing  certain  words  meanwhile  appropriate 
to  each  anointing.  I  have  heard  only  those  which 
she  spake  at  the  unction  of  his  reins  and  feet :  the 
first   were,    'Let   thy   reins   be   girt   with   the   girdle   of 


124  LIFE  OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

chastity ;'  and  the  second,  '  Let  thy  feet  be  shod  for 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  of  Peace.'  Then  she  showed 
to  him  the  habit  of  the  Friars  Preachers,  saying  to  him, 
'  Behold  the  habit  of  thy  order,'  and  so  she  disappeared 
from  his  eyes.  And  at  the  same  time  Reginald  perceived 
that  he  was  cured,  having  been  anointed  by  the  Mother 
of  Him  who  has  the  secrets  of  salvation  and  of  health. 
And  the  next  morning,  when  Dominic  came  to  him,  to 
ask  him  how  he  fared,  he  answered  that  nothing  ailed 
him,  and  so  told  him  the  vision.  Then  both  together  did 
render  thanks  to  God,  who  strikes  and  heals,  who  wounds 
and  who  makes  whole." 

Three  days  after  this  Dominic  again  came  to  his  room, 
bringing  with  him  a  religious  of  the  Hospitallers  of 
S.  John.  And  as  they  sat  all  three  together,  the  same 
scene  was  repeated  in  the  sight  of  all.  We  are  told  by 
some  that  on  her  former  appearance  the  Blessed  Virgin 
had  promised  this  repetition  of  her  previous  visit,  and 
that  Reginald  had  mentioned  this  fact  to  S.  Dominic. 
He  now  conjured  him  and  his  companions  to  keep  the 
whole  of  the  circumstances  secret  until  after  his  death  ; 
and  he  did  this  out  of  humility.  Dominic  complied  with 
his  request  ;  and  in  announcing  to  his  brethren  his  in- 
tention of  changing  the  form  of  their  habit,  he  did  not 
give  the  reason  which  had  caused  the  change  until  after 
Reginald'  s  death.  Until  this  time  the  habit  of  the  regu- 
lar canons  had  continued  to  be  worn  by  all  the  brethren ; 
it  was  now  changed  for  that  which  had  been  shown  by 
Mary  to  Reginald,  and  which  Dominic  had  himself  seen 
on  the  second  occasion  of  her  appearance.  The  linen  sur- 
plice was  laid  aside,  and  in  its  place  was  used  the  long 
woollen  scapular,  which  was  the  particular  part  of  the 
habit  she  was  seen  holding  in  her  hands.  Thenceforward 
this  has  been  the  distinctive  sign  of  religious  profession 
among  the  Friars  Preachers;  and  the  words  with  which 
it  is  accompanied  in  the  ceremony  of  the  giving  of  the 
habit,  mark  at  once  its  origin,  and  the  reverence  with  which 
its  wearers  are  accustomed  to  regard  it  :  "  Receive  the 
holy  scapular  of  our  order,  the  most  distinguished  part  of 
our  Dominican  habit,  the  maternal  pledge  from  heaven 


HIS    LABOURS   AT   HOME.  125 

of  the  love  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  towards  us."  This 
especial  love  of  Mary  for  the  order  of  Friars  Preachers  is 
indeed  a  claim  which  we  do  not  wonder  at  their—making, 
when  we  consider  the  many  ways  in  which  it  has  been 
evinced.  In  those  early  days  of  the  order  one  of  the 
popular  names  by  which  the  brethren  were  known,  was  that 
of  "  the  Friars  of  Mary j"  a  title  which  reveals  to  ns  how 
filial  was  the  devotion  which  they  felt  for  the  Mother 
who  had  clothed  them  with  her  own  hands ;  and  we  shall 
find,  among  the  traditions  of  Santa  Sabina,  other  tales 
which  show  us  the  singular  and  tender  nature  of  the  pro- 
tection she  gave  them. 

Some  of  these  traditions,  illustrating  as  they  do  this 
period  of  Dominic's  life,  we  will  give  in  the  following 
chapters,  together  with  that  sketch  of  what  we  may  term 
his  conventual  habits,  which  has  been  left  us  by  blessed 
Jordan  and  other  early  writers ;  and  they  will  probably 
render  us  more  familiar  with  his  personal  character  than 
any  other  portion  of  his  history,  Meanwhile  Reignald  of 
Orleans  departed  for  the  Holy  Land,  whence  he  did  not 
return  until  the  conclusion  of  the  year. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Dominic's  life  at  Koine.     The  rule  of  the  Order.     Description  of 
his  person  and  appearance.     His  prayer,  and  manner  of  life. 

When  Dominic  was  fairly  settled  at  Santa  Sabina,  he 
saw  himself  surrounded  by  a  multiplicity  of  cares  and 
occupations,  any  one  of  which  would  have  demanded  the 
whole  strength  and  time  of  an  ordinary  man.  There 
was  the  government  of  two  communities  :  that  of  his  own 
convent,  a  company  of  novices  gathered  from  all  ranks 
and  ages,  unused  to  rule  and  discipline,  and  who  had  to 
learn  the  whole  science  of  religion  from  his  lips  alone; 
while  the  training  of  the  nuns  of  S.  Sixtus  was   even  a 


126  LIFE    OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

harder  task,  for  with  them  there  were  long  habits  of 
negligence  and  relaxation  to  eradicate,  before  the  spirit  of 
fervour  and  observance  could  possibly  be  infused.  How 
hard  and  difficult  a  thing  it  was,  we  may  judge,  from  the 
unwearied  assiduity  with  which  Dominic  laboured  at  his 
task.  He  visited  them  daily,  instructing  them  in  the 
most  minute  particulars  of  their  rule ;  and  sent  to  Prouille 
for  eight  of  the  more  experienced  religious  of  that  house, 
one  of  whom,  Sister  Blanche,  was  appointed  prioress. 
His  long  and  patient  care  was  not  thrown  away.  Inclo- 
sure  and  the  observance  of  a  holy  rule  produced  their 
usual  marvels,  and  transformed  the  undisciplined  nuns  of 
the  Trastevere  into  mirrors  of  sanctity  and  grace.  These 
two  undertakings,  carried  on  at  the  same  time,  called  for 
a  genius  of  government  which  few  have  ever  possessed  in 
a  more  remarkable  degree  than  S.  Dominic.  But  within 
his  soul  there  lay  vast  resources,  and  a  certain  fullness  of 
spiritual  light  which  never  failed  to  guide  him  in  the 
guidance  of  others ;  so  at  least  we  are  led  to  affirm  if  we 
contemplate  him  alone  and  unaided  in  his  gigantic  tasks. 
And  if  we  are  curious  to  know  the  means  whereby  he 
achieved  them,  we  must  seek  for  them  in  that  rule  which, 
if  we  mistake  not,  exhibits  to  us  more  of  the  character  of 
his  mind  than  we  can  gather  from  any  other  source. 
"  The  Christian  perfection  which  he  taught "  (to  use  the 
admirable  words  of  Castiglio)  "  consisted  primarily  indeed 
in  the  love  of  God  and  of  our  neighbour ;  but  secondarily 
and  accidentally  in  that  silence  and  solitude,  and  in  those 
fasts,  mortifications,  disciplines,  and  ceremonies,  which 
are  the  instruments  whereby  we  reach  unto  that  high  and 
most  excellent  end."  It  would  seem  indeed  as  if  these 
"ceremonies"  he  speaks  of  formed  no  insignificant  part 
of  Dominic's  great  idea  of  spiritual  training.  We  read  of 
his  ?'  diligent  training  of  the  nuns  in  the  rules  and  cere- 
monies;" and  again  S.  Hyacinth  is  said  to  have  become 
a  perfect  master  in  "  all  the  ordinances  and  ceremonies  of 
the  order  during  his  short  noviciate."  And  if  we  examine 
the  rule  itself,  we  find  in  it  very  much  of  this  outward 
training  so  deep  and  significant  in  its  intention,  and  so 
great  in  its  results.     This  arose  partly  from  the  sagacity 


HIS   PERSONAL   APPEARANCE.  127 

which  perceived  how  large  an  influence  is  exerted  over 
the  inner  man  by  the  subjugation  of  his  external  nature; 
partly  also  from  a  characteristic  feature  in  Dominic's  mind, 
the  love  of  order.  Whilst  wholly  free  from  the  narrowness 
of  mere  formalism,  his  soul  yet  delighted  in  that  harmony 
which  is  a  chief  element  of  perfection  :  it  was  as  though  his 
eagle  eye  had  gazed  on  the  ordering  of  the  heavenly  courts, 
and,  drawing  from  the  image  pictured  on  his  soul,  he  strove 
to  reflect  something  of  their  beauty  in  his  convent  choirs. 
And  so,  perhaps,  those  bowings  and  prostrations  of  the 
white-robed  ranks,  which,  when  exactly  performed,  give  so 
unearthly  and  beautiful  an  appearance  to  the  worship  of  a 
religious  choir,  may,  at  the  same  time  as  it  harmonized  the 
souls  of  the  worshippers  into  recollection,  have  been  intended 
to  recall  and  symbolize  those  scenes  on  which  doubtless  his 
own  spiritual  vision  had  so  often  rested,  and  the  repeated 
foldings  of  those  many  wings,  and  the  casting  of  the  golden 
crowns  upon  the  ground. 

Let  us  now  see  what  was  the  rule  of  his  own  life  at  this 
period,  and  the  impression  which  his  intercourse  and  ex- 
ample left  on  the  minds  of  those  who  observed  him ;  and 
first  we  will  give  the  portrait  they  have  delineated  of  his  out- 
ward appearance.  It  must  have  been  very  noble,  if  we  may 
judge  from  the  description  of  Sister  Cecilia :  "  He  was  about 
the  middle  stature,  but  slightly  made;  his  face  was  beautiful, 
and  rather  sanguine  in  its  colour ;  his  hair  and  beard  of  a 
fair  and  bright  hue,  and  his  eyes  fine.  From  his  forehead, 
and  between  his  brows,  there  seemed  to  shine  a  radiant  light 
which  drew  respect  and  love  from  them  that  saw  it.  He 
was  always  joyous  and  agreeable,  save  when  moved  to  com- 
passion by  the  afflictions  of  his  neighbours.  His  hands 
were  long  and  beautiful,  and  his  voice  was  clear,  noble,  and 
musical.  He  was  never  bald,  and  he  always  preserved  his 
religious  crown  or  tonsure  entire,  mingled  here  and  there 
with  a  very  few  white  hairs."  Next  we  find  an  equally 
minute  and  interesting  description  of  his  dress.  Gerard  de 
Frachet,  who  wrote  by  command  of  blessed  Humbert  so 
early  as  1256,  speaks  thus  :  "  Everything  about  the  blessed 
Dominic  breathed  of  poverty :  his  habit,  shoes,  girdle,  knife, 
books,  and  all  like  things.     You  might  see  him  with  his 


128  LIFE   OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

scapular  ever  so  short,  yet  did  he  not  care  to  cover  it  with 
his  mantle,  even  when  in  the  presence  of  great  persons. 
He  wore  the  same  tunic  summer  and  winter,  and  it  was 
very  old  and  patched,  and  his  mantle  was  of  the  worst." 
It  was  the  same  spirit  of  poverty  that  induced  him  never 
to  have  any  cell  or  bed  of  his  own.  He  slept  in  the  church. 
If  he  came  home  late  at  night  from  his  expeditions  drenched 
with  rain,  he  would  send  his  companions  to  dry  and  refresh 
themselves,  but  himself  would  go  as  he  was  to  the  church. 
There  his  nights  were  passed  in  prayer ;  or  if  overcome  with 
fatigue,  he  would  sleep  leaning  against  the  altar  steps,  or 
lying  on  the  hard  stones.  On  one  part  of  the  pavement  of 
the  church  of  Santa  Sabina  there  is  still  preserved  an  in- 
scription indicating  one  of  the  stones  as  that  whereon  he 
was  accustomed  to  lie  at  night  If,  when  he  travelled,  they 
stopped  where  there  was  no  church,  he  slept  anywhere,  on 
the  floor,  or  on  a  bench,  or  sitting  in  his  chair,  and  always 
dressed  in  his  habit  as  during  the  day.  Thrice  every  night 
he  disciplined  himself  to  blood ;  the  first  time  for  himself, 
the  second  for  sinners,  the  third  for  the  souls  in  purgatory. 
His  prayer  was  in  a  manner  continual.  There  was  neither 
place  nor  time  in  which  he  did  not  pray,  but  especially  in 
those  night  hours  which  he  spent  alone  with  God  in  the 
church.  Very  often  they  watched  him  unknown  to  him, 
and  saw  the  way  in  which,  when  he  believed  himself  entirely 
alone,  he  poured  out  all  the  fervour  of  his  soul  with- 
out control.  After  compline,  when  the  others  were  dis- 
missed to  rest,  he  remained  behind,  visiting  each  altar 
in  turn,  and  praying  ibr  his  order  and  for  the  world.  Some- 
times his  tears  and  prayers  were  so  loud  as  to  wake  those 
who  slept  near;  and  though  very  often  these  exercises 
lasted  until  the  hour  of  matins,  he  never  failed  to 
assist  at  the  office  with  the  spirit  and  alacrity  which 
were  so  remarkable  in  him.  He  was  most  zealous  for  the 
exact  performance  of  what  he  considered  the  primary 
duty  of  a  religious,  and  would  go  through  the  choir  from 
one  to  another,  calling  on  them  to  sing  with  attention 
and  devotion,  and  in  a  loud  and  distinct  tone.  He  never 
passed  an  altar  whereon  was  the  figure  of  our  Lord 
without   a  profound    inclination,    to   recall    the   sense   0/ 


HIS   PRAYER   AND   MANNER   OF   LIFE.  129 

his  own  nothingness.  He  taught  his  brethren  to  do  the 
same  at  the  repetition  of  the  Gloria,  as  a  homage  to  the 
Most  Holy  Trinity,  and  was  wont  to  quote  the  words  of 
Judith,  "The  prayer  of  the  meek  and  humble  shall  ever 
please  Thee."  He  was  accustomed  likewise  to  pray,  in 
imitation  of  Christ  in  the  garden,  with  his  face  on  the 
ground;  and  in  this  posture  he  would  remain  for  a  long 
space,  repeating  passages  from  the  Psalms  of  the  most 
profound  abnegation,  and  accompanied  with  many  tears,  so 
that  the  place  was  often  wet  where  his  face  had  leaned. 

Some  of  his  favourite  ejaculations  are  preserved.  "0 
God,  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner !"  he  was  heard  exclaim- 
ing: "I  have  sinned,  and  done  amiss."  Then,  after  a 
little  space,  "I  am  not  worthy  to  behold  the  height  of 
heaven,  because  of  the  multitude  of  my  iniquities,  for 
Thy  wrath  is  irritated  against  me,  and  I  have  done  evil 
in  Thy  sight.  Yea,  my  soul  cleaveth  to  the  ground; 
quicken  me  according  to  Thy  word."  To  move  his  disciples 
to  a  similar  mode  of  prayer,  he  would  cite  the  example  of 
the  holy  kings  throwing  themselves  at  the  feet  of  Christ, 
and  would  say,  "  Come  let  us  adore,  and  fall  down  before 
God,  and  weep  before  the  Lord  who  made  us."  "  If  you 
have  no  sins  of  your  own  to  weep  for,"  he  would  say  to  the 
younger  novices,  "weep  after  the  example  of  the  prophets 
and  apostles,  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus ;  and  grieve  for  the 
sinners  who  are  in  the  world,  that  they  may  be  brought 
back  to  penance."  Another  of  his  favourite  devotions  was 
to  keep  his  eyes  fixed  on  the  crucifix,  and  meanwhile  to 
genuflect  a  hundred  times  or  more ;  and  so  he  would  pass 
many  hours,  uttering  ejaculations  from  the  Psalms;  or  he 
would  kneel  silently,  as  if  unconscious  of  aught  save  the 
presence  of  God ;  and  then  his  face,  and  his  whole  person, 
and  his  very  gestures,  seemed  as  though  he  would  penetrate 
the  distance  that  separated  him  from  his  beloved;  now 
beaming  with  a  holy  joy,  and  now  sorrowfully  bathed  in 
tears.  At  other  times  he  was  seen  to  stand  up  upright 
before  the  altar,  with  his  hands  clasped  before  his  breast, 
as  though  holding  a  book,  out  of  which  he  had  the  air  of 
reading,  then  he  would  press  them  over  his  eyes,  or 
raise   them   above   his   shoulders.     In   these   postures   h« 


130  LIFE   OF  S.   DOMIN1U. 

had  the  appearance  of  a  prophet,  now  listening  or  speak- 
ing with  God  and  the  angels,  now  thinking  within  himself 
on  what  he  had  heard.  He  would  stand  also  with  his  arms 
stretched  out  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  and  would  so  pronounce 
steadily  and  at  intervals  sentences  like  these: — "0  Lord 
God  of  my  salvation,  I  have  cried  before  Thee  day  and 
night.  I  have  cried  unto  Thee,  0  Lord ;  all  the  day  long 
have  I  stretched  out  my  hands  to  Thee.  I  have  stretched 
out  my  hands  unto  Thee ;  my  soul  graspeth  to  Thee  as  a 
land  where  there  is  no  water."  This  was  when  he  prayed 
for  any  special  grace  or  miracle,  as  on  the  raising  of  Napoleon  j 
and  at  such  times  his  face  breathed  an  air  of  indescribable 
majesty,  so  that  the  bystanders  remained  astonished,  with- 
out daring  to  question  him  of  that  which  they  beheld  with 
their  own  eyes  :  often  in  rapture,  he  was  seen  raised  above 
the  ground ;  his  hands  then  moved  to  and  fro  as  though 
receiving  something  from  God,  and  he  was  heard  ex- 
claiming, "  Hear,  0  Lord,  the  voice  of  my  prayer,  when 
I  cry  unto  Thee,  and  when  I  hold  out  my  hands  to  Thy 
holy  temple."  As  soon  as  the  hours  and  the  grace  after 
dinner  were  ended,  he  would  retire  alone  to  some  secret 
place,  where  sitting  down  and  making  the  sign  of  the 
cross,  he  would  meditate  on  those  things  which  he  had 
heard  read.  Then  taking  out  that  book  of  the  Gospels, 
which  he  always  carried,  he  would  kiss  it  reverently  and 
press  it  to  his  breast ;  and  those  who  observed  him  could 
mark  how,  as  he  read,  he  would  seem  to  fall  into  argu- 
ments with  another,  smiling  or  weeping,  beating  his 
breast,  or  covering  his  face  with  his  mantle,  rising  and 
again  sitting  and  reading,  as  the  passing  emotions  of  his 
soul  sought  for  expression.  Nor  must  we  fail  to  notice 
the  singular  devotion  with  which  he  daily  celebrated  the 
holy  sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  which  he  almost  always  sang. 
At  the  Canon  and  the  Lord's  Prayer  his  tears  fell  in 
abundance  ;  those  .  who  served  his  Masses  noticed  this, 
and  bore  witness  that  it  wa3  always  the  case,  and  that  with 
a  tenderness  of  devotion  which  moved  them  also  to  weep 
with  him. 

Of  his   manner   towards  his  subjects,  we  read  that  its 
undeviating    rule    was    charity.      He    was    their  loving 


HIS   PRAYER   AND   MANNER   OP   LIFE.  131 

father,  even  whilst  he  knew  how  to  reprove  and  correct 
them.  The  following  are  the  words  of  Rodolph  of  Fa- 
enza: — He  was  ever  kind,  cheerful,  patient,  joyful,  mer- 
ciful, and  the  consoler  of  his  brethren.  If  he  saw  any 
of  them  fail  into  a  fault,  he  would  seem  as  though  he 
did  not  at  the  time  observe  it,  but  afterwards,  with  a 
serene  countenance,  and  with  gentle  speech,  would  say, 
4 Brother,  you  have  done  wrong,  but  now  repent;'  and 
so  did  he  bring  all  to  penance.  And  yet  though  he 
told  them  of  their  faults  with  such  humble  words,  he 
could  gravely  punish  them."  "  He  punished  transgressors 
of  the  rule  with  severity,  and  yet  with  mercy,"  says 
John  of  Navarre,  "  and  greatly  did  he  grieve  when  he 
had  to  punish  any."  Brother  Frugerius,  another  of  the 
eye-witnesses  of  his  life,  says,  "  He  was  rigid  himself  in 
the  observation  of  the  rule,  and  would  have  it  observed 
also  by  others  ;  yet  did  he  punish  transgressors  with 
meekness  and  sweetnesss.  He  was  kind  and  patient  in 
trouble,  joyful  in  adversity,  loving,  merciful,  and  the  con- 
soler of  his  brethren,  and  of  all  men."  To  which  test- 
imony Brother  Paul  of  Venice  adds,  "  So  sweet  and 
just  was  he  in  correction,  that  none  could  ever  be  troubled 
by  a  punishment  or  reproof  received  from  him."  An- 
other of  his  disciples  adds,  "  Although  like  a  father, 
he  could  use  the  rod  of  correction ;  yet  also  as  a 
mother  he  could  give  the  breast  of  consolation  ;  and 
so  sweet  and  efficacious  was  his  way  of  comforting 
those  who  came  to  him,  that  none  went  away  without 
solace  and  relief.  And  if  he  saw  his  brethren  at  any 
time  sad  or  afflicted,  he  would  call  them  to  him,  and 
condole  with  them,  and  ofttimes  deliver  them  by  his 
prayers." 

We  may  draw  the  reader's  attention  to  the  striking 
similarity  of  the  character  sketched  by  so  many  different 
hands.  Indeed,  when  we  read  over  "  the  Acts  of  Bo- 
logna, as  these  evidences  for  his  canonization  are  entitled, 
we  are  immediately  struck  with  the  exact  resemblance 
they  bear  to  one  another.  We  see,  as  it  were,  the 
portrait  of  one  whose  features  were  too  marked  not 
\o   be   instantly   caught   by   the   painter  ;   they  were  the 


132  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC, 

outlines  of  the  most  perfect  form  of  charity-  And  the 
mother  of  his  charity  was  a  profound  humility.  "  Nevei 
did  I  see  a  man  so  humble  in  all  things  as  was  Brother 
Dominic,"  is  the  language  of  one  of  the  witnesses  on 
his  canonization  ;  "  he  dispised  himself  greatly,  and 
counted  himself  as  nothing;  he  was  the  example  to  his 
brethren  in  all  things — in  words,  gesture,  food,  clothing, 
and  manners.  He  was  generous,  too,  and  hospitable, 
and  gladly  gave  all  he  had  to  the  poor.  He  passed 
his  nights  without  sleep,  praying  for  the  sins  of  others," 
And  blessed  Jordan,  on  the  last-mentioned  quality 
(zeal  for  souls),  says,  f  It  was  the  trait  in  which  lie 
most  desired  to  resemble  his  Lord."  With  the  beautiful 
eulogy  which  is  given  by  this  holy  writer,  the  worthy 
successor  and  biographer  of  his  great  patriarch,  we  must 
conclude  this  chapter  :  "  The  goodness  of  his  soul,  and 
the  holy  fervour  with  which  he  acted,  were  so  great, 
that  none  could  doubt  him  to  be  indeed  a  chosen  vessel 
of  honour  adorned  with  precious  stones.  He  had  a  par- 
ticular firmness  of  spirit,  always  equal,  save  when  moved 
to  pity  or  compassion.  The  peace  and  quietude  of  his 
heart  was  manifest  in  his  gentleness  and  his  cheerful 
looks.  And  he  was  so  firm  and  resolute  in  the  de- 
terminations he  had  taken  after  just  reflection,  that 
never,  or  almost  never,  did  any  succeed  in  making  him 
change  his  mind.  The  holy  joy  which  shone  in  him  had 
something  singular  about  it,  which  drew  all  men's  affec- 
tions to  him  so  soon  as  they  had  looked  upon  his  face. 
He  embraced  all  in  great  charity,  and  so  was  loved  of 
all ;  and  his  rule  was  to  rejoice  with  them  that  rejoiced, 
and  to  weep  with  them  that  wept.  He  was  all  love  for  his 
neighbour,  all  pity  for  the  poor  ;  and  the  simplicity  of  his 
conduct,  without  a  shadow  of  insincerity  either  in  word  or 
deed,  made  him  dear  to  all." 

With  this  portrait  in  our  mind,  sketched  by  the  very  eye- 
witnesses of  his  daily  life,  we  shall  now  proceed  to  give 
some  of  those  legends  attached  to  the  period  of  his  residence 
at  Rome,  to  which  we  have  before  referred- 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Attacks  of  the  Devil.    Legends  of  S.  Sabina  and  S.  Sixtns 

On  the  second  Sunday  in  Lent,  being  the  first  after 
the  settlement  of  the  nuns  at  S.  Sixtus,  Dominic  preached 
in  their  church,  standing,  as  it  is  said,  "  at  the  grating," 
that  is,  so  as  his  discourse  should  be  heard  both  by  them 
and  by  the  congregation  assembled  in  the  public  parts  of 
the  church.  As  he  did  so,  a  possessed  woman  who  was 
in  the  midst  of  the  crowd  interrupted  the  sermon,  "  Ah, 
villain  !"  cried  the  demon,  speaking  through  her  voice, 
"  these  nuns  were  once  all  mine  own,  and  thou  hast  robbed 
me  of  them  all.  This  soul  at  least  is  mine,  and  thou  shalt 
not  take  her  from  me,  for  we  are  seven  in  number  that 
have  her  in  our  keeping."  Then  Dominic  commanded  her 
to  hold  her  peace,  and  making  the  sign  of  the  cross,  he 
delivered  her  from  her  tormenters  in  the  presence  of 
all  the  spectators.  A  few  days  after  this  she  came  to 
him,  and,  throwing  herself  at  his  feet,  implored  to  be 
allowed  to  take  his  habit.  He  consented  to  her  request, 
and  placed  her  in  the  convent  of  S.  Sixtus,  where  he  gave 
her  the  name  of  Amata,  or,  as  we  used  to  call  her,  Amy  ; 
to  signify  the  love  of  God  displayed  in  her  regard. 
She  afterwards  removed  to  Bologna,  where  she  died 
in  the  odour  of  sanctity,  and  lies  buried  in  the  same  tomb 
with  Dominic's  two  other  holy  daughters,  Cecilia  and 
Diana,  the  latter  of  whom  was  foundress  of  the  convent  of 
women  in  that  place. 

In  speaking  of  this  and  other  examples  of  the  malice 
of  the  demon,  which  are  narrated  in  the  history  of 
S.  Dominic,  we  cannot  but  observe  something  perhaps 
a  little  distinctive  about  them.  Never  do  we  find  one 
instance  in  which  Satan  was  permitted  the  least  power 
to  vex  or  trouble   him.     Never,   as   with   so   many  othef 


134  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

saints,  was  he  suffered  to  do  him  bodily  harm,  or  to 
assault  him  with  grievous  temptations.  The  evil  one 
appears  to  us  always  baffled  and  contemptible,  as  in  the 
power  of  one  who  is  his  master,  the  very  Michael  among 
the  saints.  Yet  though  always  petty,  and  as  it  were 
ridiculous,  he  ceased  not  in  his  efforts  to  thwart  and 
disturb  him,  and  chiefly  directed  his  malice  against  the 
friars  and  sisters  of  S.  Sixtus,  grievously  trying  them 
by  perpetual  distraction,  as  though  he  hoped  thereby  at 
least  to  diminish  something  of  the  fervour  of  their  devo- 
tions. Once  indeed  he  made  a  more  serious  attempt 
against  Dominic's  life.  One  night,  as  he  prayed  in  the 
church  of  Santa  Sabina,  a  huge  stone  was  hurled  at  him 
by  an  invisible  hand  from  the  upper  part  of  the  roof, 
which  all  but  grazed  his  head,  and  even  tore  his  hood, 
but  falling  without  further  injury  to  the  saint,  was 
buried  deep  in  the  ground  beside  him.  The  noise  was 
so  loud  that  it  awoke  several  of  the  friars,  who  came 
in  haste  to  the  spot  to  inquire  the  cause  ;  they  found 
the  fragments  of  the  broken  pavement,  and  the  stone 
lying  where  it  fell ;  but  Dominic  was  kneeling  quietly 
in  prayer,  and  seemed  as  if  unconscious  of  what  had 
happened. 

Another  story,  of  a  similar  character,  is  told  as  follows  : 
"  The  servant  of  God,  who  had  neither  bed  nor  cell 
of  his  own,  had  publicly  commanded  his  children  in 
chapter,  that  in  order  that  they  might  wake  the  more 
promptly,  to  rise  to  matins,  they  should  retire  to  bed  at 
a  certain  hour,  in  which  he  was  strictly  obeyed.  Now, 
as  he  himself  abode  before  the  Lord  in  the  church,  the 
devil  appeared  before  him  in  the  form  of  one  of  the 
brethren,  and  though  it  was  past  the  prohibited  time,  yet 
did  he  remain  in  the  church  with  an  air  of  particular 
devotion  and  modesty.  Wherefore  the  saint,  judging 
it  to  be  one  of  the  friars,  went  softly  up  to  him,  and 
desired  him  to  go  to  his  cell,  and  sleep  with  the  others. 
And  the  pretended  friar  inclined  his  head,  in  sign  of 
humble  obedience,  and  went  as  he  was  bid;  but  on  each 
of  the  two  following  nights,  he  returned  at  the  same  hour 
and  in  the  same  manner.     The  second  time  the  man  of 


ATTACKS  OP  THE  DEVIL.  135 

God  rose  very  gently  (although,  indeed,  he  had  reason  to 
be  somewhat  angry,  seeing  he  had  at  table  during  the  day 
reminded  all  of  the  observance  of  that  which  had  been 
enjoined),  and  again  desired  him  to  go  away.  He  went ; 
but,  as  we  have  said,  returned  yet  a  third  time.  Then, 
it  seemed  to  the  saint  that  the  disobedience  and  pertinacity 
of  his  brother  was  too  great,  and  he  reproved  him  for  the 
same  with  some  severity  ;  whereat,  the  devil  (who  desired 
nothing  else,  save  to  disturb  his  prayer  and  stir  him  unto 
wrath,  and  move  him  to  break  the  silence)  gave  a  loud 
laugh,  and,  leaping  high  into  the  air,  he  said,  'At  least 
I  have  made  you  break  the  silence,  and  moved  you  to 
wrath  !'  But  he  calmly  replied,  '  Not  so,  for  I  have  power 
to  dispense,  neither  is  it  blameworthy  wrath  when  I  utter 
reproofs  unto  the  evil-doers.'  And  the  demon,  being  so 
answered,  was  obliged  to  fly." 

On  another  occasion,  as  he  was  by  night  walking  about 
the  convent  of  S.  Sabina,  guarding  his  flock  with  the 
vigilance  of  a  good  shepherd,  he  met  the  enemy  in  the 
dormitory,  going  like  a  lion  seeking  whom  he  might 
devour  ;  and  recognizing  him,  he  said,  "  Thou  evil  beast, 
what  doest  thou  here  ?"  "I  do  my  office,"  replied  the  de- 
mon, "and  attend  to  mygains."  "And what  gains  dost  thou 
make  in  the  dormitory  ?"  asked  the  saint.  "  Gain 
enough,"  returned  the  demon.  "  I  disquiet  the  friars  in 
many  ways  ;  for  first,  I  take  the  sleep  away  from  those 
who  desire  to  sleep  in  order  that  they  may  rise  promptly 
for  matins  ;  and  then  I  give  an  excessive  heaviness  to 
others,  so  that  when  the  bell  sounds,  either  from  weariness 
or  idleness  they  do  not  rise  ;  or,  if  they  rise  and  go  to 
choir,  it  is  unwillingly,  and  they  say  their  office  without 
devotion."  Then  the  saint  took  him  to  the  church,  and 
said,  "  And  what  dost  thou  gain  here  ?"  "  Much,  an- 
swered the  devil;  "  I  make  them  come  late  and  leave 
soon.  I  fill  them  with  disgusts  and  distractions,  so  that 
they  do  ill  whatsoever  they  have  to  do."  "  And  here  ?" 
asked  Dominic,  leading  him  to  the  refectory.  "  Who  does 
not  eat  too  much  or  too  little  ?"  was  the  reply  ;  "  and 
so  they  either  offend  God  or  injure  their  health."  Theu 
the   saint   took  him  to  the  parlour,   where  the  brethren 


136  LIFE   OF  S.   DOMINIC 

wore  allowed  to  speak  with  seculars,  and  to  take  their 
recreation.  And  the  devil  began  maliciously  to  laugh, 
and  to  leap  and  jump  about,  as  if  with  enjoyment,  and  he 
said,  "  This  place  is  all  mine  own ;  here  they  laugh  and 
joke,  and  hear  a  thousand  vain  stories  ;  here  they  utter 
idle  words,  and  grumble  often  at  their  rule  and  their 
superiors  ;  and  whatsoever  they  gain  elsewhere  they  lose 
here."  And  lastly  they  came  to  the  door  of  the  chapter- 
room,  but  there  the  devil  would  not  enter.  He  attempted 
to  fly,  saying,  "This  place  is  a  hell  to  me  ;  here  the  friars 
accuse  themselves  of  their  faults,  and  receive  reproof  and 
correction,  and  absolution.  What  they  have  lost  in  every 
other  place  they  regain  here."  And  so  saying,  he  dis- 
appeared, and  Dominic  was  left  greatly  wondering  at 
the  snares  and  nets  of  the  tempter  ;  whereof  he  after- 
wards made  a  long  discourse  to  his  brethren,  declaring 
the  same  unto  them,  that  they  should  be  on  their 
guard. 

But  if,  at  the  risk  of  wearying  the  reader,  we  have 
given  these  instances  of  the  infernal  malice,  it  is  time 
for  us  to  present  him  with  other  and  more  lovely  pictures, 
as  they  are  left  us  in  the  relation  of  Sister  Cecilia.  The 
first,  as  is  fitting,  shall  be  of  the  maternal  love  of  Mary. 
Before  reading  it,  we  must  remember  that  Dominic  never 
had  cell  or  bed  of  his  own,  and  slept,  when  he  slept  at 
all,  in  the  church  or  the  dormitory.  "One  night, 
Dominic  having  remained  in  the  church  to  pray,  left  it 
at  the  hour  of  midnight,  and  entered  the  corrider  where 
were  the  cells  of  the  brethren.  When  he  had  finished 
what  he  had  come  to  do,  he  again  began  to  pray  at  one 
end  of  the  dormitory,  and  looking  by  chance  towards  the 
other  end,  he  saw  three  ladies  coming  along,  of  whom 
the  one  in  the  middle  appeared  the  most  beautiful  and 
venerable.  One  of  her  companions  carried  a  magnificent 
vessel  of  water,  and  the  other  a  sprinkler,  which  she 
presented  to  her  mistress,  and  she  sprinkled  the  bre- 
thren, and  made  over  them  the  sign  of  the  cross.  But 
when  she  had  come  to  one  of  the  friars,  she  passed  him 
over  without  blessing  him  ;  and  Dominic  having  observed 
who  this  one  was,  went  before  the  lady,  who  was  in  the 


LEGEND    OF   S.    SABINA:  137 

middle  of  the  dormitory,  near  to  where  the  lamp  was 
hanging.  He  fell  at  her  feet,  and  though  he  had  already 
recognized  her,  yet  he  besought  her  to  tell  him  who  she 
was.  At  that  time  the  beautiful  and  devout  anthem 
of  the  Salve  Regina  was  not  sung  in  the  convents  of 
the  friars  or  of  the  sisters  at  Rome  ;  it  was  only 
recited,  kneeling,  after  compline.  The  lady  who  had 
given  the  blessing  said  therefore  to  Dominic.  '  I  am  she 
whom  you  invoke  every  evening,  and  when  you  say  <  Eia 
ergo  advocota  nostra,'  I  prostrate  before  my  Son  for  the 
preservation  of  this  order.'  Then  the  blesssed  Dominic 
inquired  who  were  the  two  young  maidens  who  accom- 
panied her,  and  she  replied,  '  One  is  Cecilia,  and  the  other 
Catherine.'  And  the  blessed  Dominic  asked  again  why 
she  had  passed  over  one  of  the  brethren  without  blessing 
him  ;  and  he  was  answered,  '  Because  he  was  not  in  a 
fitting  posture;'  and  so,  having  finished  her  round,  and 
sprinkled  the  rest  of  the  brethren,  she  disappeared.  Now 
the  blessed  Dominic  returned  to  pray  in  the  place  where 
he  was  before,  and  scarcely  had  he  begun  to  pray  when 
he  was  wrapt  in  spirit  unto  God.  And  he  saw  the  Lord, 
with  the  Blessed  Virgin  standing  on  His  right  hand ;  and 
it  seemed  to  him  that  our  Lady  was  dressed  in  a  robe  of 
sapphire  blue.  And,  looking  about  him,  he  saw  religious 
of  every  order  standing  before  God;  but  of  his  own  he 
did  not  S3e  one.  Then  he  began  to  weep  bitterly,  and  he 
dared  not  draw  nigh  to  our  Lord,  or  to  His  Mother;  but 
our  Lady  beckoned  him  with  her  hand  to  approach. 
Nevertheless,  he  did  not  dare  to  come  until  our  Lord 
also  in  His  turn  had  made  him  a  sign  to  do  so.  He 
came,  therefore,  and  fell  prostrate  before  them,  weeping 
bitterly.  And  the  Lord  commanded  him  to  rise ;  and 
when  he  was  risen,  He  said  to  him,  *  Why  weepest  thou 
thus  bitterly?'  And  he  answered,  'I  weep  because  I 
see  here  religious  of  all  orders  except  mine  own.'  And 
the  Lord  said  to  him,  '  Wouldst  thou  see  thine  own  ?' 
And  he,  trembling,  replied,  'Yes,  Lord.'  Then  the 
Lord  placed  His  hand  on  the  shoulder  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  and  said  to  the  blessed  Dominic,  '  I  have  given 
thine  order  to  my  Mother.'     Then  He  said  again,   'And 


138  LIFE    OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

wouldst  thou  really  see  thine  order?'  And  he  replied, 
1  Yea,  Lord.'  Then  the  Blessed  Virgin  opened  the 
mantle  in  which  she  seemed  to  be  dressed,  and  extending 
it  before  the  eyes  of  Dominic,  so  that  its  immensity 
covered  all  the  space  of  the  heavenly  country,  he  saw 
under  its  folds  a  vast  multitude  of  his  friars.  The 
blessed  Dominic  fell  down  to  thank  God  and  the  Blessed 
Mary,  His  Mother,  and  the  vision  disappeared,  and  he 
came  to  himself  again,  and  rang  the  bell  for  matins ;  and 
when  matins  were  ended,  he  called  them  all  together,  and 
made  them  a  beautiful  discourse  on  the  love  and  venera- 
tion they  should  bear  to  the  most  Blessed  Virgin,  and 
related  to  them  this  vision.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that 
he  ordered  his  friars,  wherever  they  might  sleep,  always  to 
wear  a  girdle  and  stockings." 

Another  story  we  give  in  the  words  of  the  same  writer  : 
"  It  was  the  constant  habit  of  the  venerable  father  to 
spend  the  entire  day  in  gaining  souls,  either  by  continual 
preaching,  or  hearing  confessions,  or  in  other  works  of 
charity.  And  in  the  evening  he  was  accustomed  to  come 
to  the  sisters,  and  give  them  a  discourse  or  a  conference 
on  the  duties  of  the  order,  in  presence  of  the  brethren ; 
for  they  had  no  other  master  to  instruct  them.  Now, 
one  evening,  he  was  later  than  usual  in  coming,  and  the 
sisters  did  not  think  he  would  come  at  all,  they  having 
finished  their  prayers  and  retired  to  their  cells.  But,  lo ! 
suddenly  they  heard  the  little  bell,  which  the  friars  were 
used  to  ring  to  give  the  sisters  a  signal  of  the  approach 
of  the  blessed  father.  And  they  all  hastened  to  the 
church,  where,  the  grating  being  opened,  they  found  him 
already  seated,  with  the  brethren,  waiting  for  them. 
Then  he  said,  t  My  daughters,  I  am  come  from  fishing, 
and  the  Lord  has  this  night  sent  me  a  great  fish.'  He 
spoke  of  Brother  Gandion,  whom  he  had  received  into  the 
order;  he  was  the  only  sen  of  the  Lord  Alexander,  a 
Roman  citizen,  and  a  man  of  consequence.  Then  he 
made  them  a  long  discourse,  which  gave  them  great  con- 
solation. After  which,  he  said,  '  It  will  be  well,  my 
children,  if  we  drink  a  little.'  And  calling  Brother 
lloger,  the  cellarer,  he  bade  him  go  and  bring  a  cup  and 


LEGEND   OP   S.    SIXTUS.  139 

some  wine.  And  the  friar  having  brought  it,  the  blessed 
Dominic  desired  him  to  fill  the  cup  to  the  brim.  Then 
he  blessed  it,  and  drank  first,  and  after  him  also  the  other 
friars  who  were  present.  Now  they  were  of  the  number 
of  twenty-five,  as  well  clerks  as  laics;  and  they  drank  as 
much  as  they  would,  yet  was  not  the  wine  diminished. 
When  they  had  all  drunk,  the  blessed  Dominic  said,  'I 
will  that  my  daughters  drink  also.'  And  calling  Sister 
Nubia,  he  said  to  her,  '  Come  in  thy  turn,  and  take  the 
cup,  and  give  all  the  sisters  to  drink.'  She  went  there- 
fore, with  a  companion,  and  took  the  cup,  full  up  to  the 
brim,  withont  a  drop  having  been  poured  out.  And  the 
prioress  drank  first  and  then  all  the  sisters,  as  much  as 
they  would,  the  blessed  father  saying  to  them,  'Drink 
at  your  ease  my  daughters.'  They  were  a  hundred  and 
four,  and  all  drank  as  much  as  they  would ;  nevertheless 
the  cup  remained  full,  as  though  the  wine  had  just  been 
poured  into  it ;  and  when  it  was  brought  back,  it  was 
still  full.  This  done,  the  blessed  Dominic  said,  '  The 
Lord  wills  me  now  to  go  to  Santa  Sabina.'  But  Brother 
Tancred,  the  prior  of  the  brethren,  and  Odo,  the  prior  of 
the  sisters,  and  all  the  friars,  and  the  prioress  with  the 
sisters,  tried  to  detain  him,  saying,  'Holy  father,  it  is 
near  midnight,  and  it  is  not  expedient  for  you  to  go.' 
Nevertheless  he  refused  to  do  as  they  wished,  and  said, 
'  The  Lord  wills  me  to  depart,  and  will  send  His  angel 
with  me.'  Then  he  took  for  his  companions  Tancred  and 
Odo,  and  set  out.  And  being  arrived  at  the  church-door, 
in  order  to  depart,  behold !  according  to  the  words  of  the 
blessed  Dominic,  a  young  man  of  great  beauty  presented 
himself,  having  a  staff  in  his  hand,  as  if  ready  for  a 
iourney.  Then  the  blessed  Dominic  made  his  com- 
panions go  on  before  him,  the  young  man  going  first,  and 
he  last,  and  so  they  came  to  the  door  of  the  church  of 
Santa  Sabina,  which  they  found  shut.  The  young  man 
leaned  against  the  door,  and  immediately  it  opened;  he 
entered  first,  then  the  brethren,  and  then  the  blessed 
Dominic.  And  the  young  man  went  out,  and  the  door 
again  shut ;  and  Brother  Tancred  said,  '  Holy  father,  who 
wa3    the    young   man   who    came   with   us  ? '       And   ho 


140  LIFE    OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

replied,  l  My  son,  it  was  an  angel  of  God,  whom  He  sent 
to  guard  us.  Matins  then  rang,  and  the  friars  descended 
into  the  choir,  and  were  surprised  to  see  there  the  blessed 
Dominie  and  his  companions,  for  they  knew  that  the 
door  had  been  left  shut." 

Such  are  some  of  the  legends  of  these  times.  Traces 
of  them  may  yet  be  found  on  the  spots  they  have  enriched 
with  their  associations.  Over  the  door  of' Santa  Sabina, 
a  half-defaced  fresco  commemorates  this  visit  of  the 
angel ;  within,  is  still  preserved  the  fragment  of  the 
stone  which  was  hurled  at  Dominic  in  prayer  ;  and  the 
spot  on  the  pavement  where  he  was  wont  to  take  his 
scanty  rest  is  marked  by  a  Latin  inscription.  The  room, 
too,  where  Hyacinth  and  Cestaus  received  the  habit  is 
yet  shown,  and  the  picture  that  hangs  over  the  choir  tells 
the  story  of  their  singular  vocation.  This  church  and 
convent  have  never  passed  from  the  hands  of  the  order, 
and  the  freshness  of  their  association  with  the  legendary 
history  of  its  founder  is  unimpaired. 

S.  Sixtus  is  no  longer  inhabited,  though  still  the  pro- 
perty of  the  order.  The  malaria  drove  the  nuns  from 
its  walls  so  long  ago  as  the  year  1575;  since  which  time 
they  have  been  established  at  a  new  house  on  the 
Quirinal,  bearing  the  name  of  "San  Dominico  e  Sisto." 
But  amid  its  desertion  and  ruin  one  monument  of  its 
ancient  history  yet  remains.  That  little  chapter-house, 
on  whose  threshold  the  widow's  son  was  raised  to  life, 
and  where  Dominic  and  the  sisters  were  assembled  when 
the  news  came  of  the  death  of  young  Nnpoleon,  yet 
stands  ;  one  of  the  very  few  buildings  in  the  ancient 
ecclesiastical  style  which  are  yet  left  in  Rome.  A  fate 
has  awaited  this  almost  solitary  relic  of  Christian  archi- 
tecture which  we  cannot  but  trust  may  have  results 
worthy  of  its  historic  interest.  In  it  has  been  made 
the  first  attempt  to  restore  the  early  ecclesiastical  style, 
which  has  been  seen  in  Rome  for  three  centuries.  It 
has  been  recently  arranged  as  a  chapel,  and  its  walls 
decorated  with  frescoes,  in  the  antique  manner,  descriptive 
of  the  life  of  Dominic.  It  may  have  been  nothing  but  a 
chance  j   yet   one   feels   it  was  a  happy  and  appropriate 

F 


PRESENT   STATE   OF   S.    SIXTUS.  141 

chance  that  the  first  steps  towards  a  revival  of  Christian 
art  should  have  been  made  in  this  monument  of  the 
Dominican  order,  and  by  the  hands  of  a  Dominican 
artist.* 

In  1667,  the  two  convents  of  S.  Clement  and  S.  Sixtus 
were  granted  to  the  Irish  Dominicans,  driven  out  of  their 
own  land  by  the  persecutions  of  the  times.  "  Inasmuch 
as  our  province  of  Ireland,"  says  Father  Anthony  Monroy, 
the  master-general  of  the  order  at  that  time,  "  has 
endured  long  and  cruel  persecutions,  so  that  its  sons  have 
neither  house  nor  place  where  they  may  lay  their  head, 
we  judge  them  worthy  of  all  commisseration."  The  brief 
continues  by  formally  ceding  to  them  these  two  convents 
"  as  a  refuge  for  the  miserable  province  of  Ireland,"  and 
also  as  a  plaee  of  education ;  and  they  have  ever  since  been 
assigned  to  the  brethren  of  that  nation. 

Some  years  ago  the  church  and  buildings  of  S.  Sixtus, 
were  covered  with  paintings  and  inscriptions  commemo- 
rative of  the  many  miracles  and  incidents  of  S.  Dominic's 
life  which  had  taken  place  within  their  walls;  and  the 
pulpit  was  shown  from  which  he  was  accustomed  to 
preach  and  propagate  the  Rosary  among  his  audience  ; 
but  many  of  these  are  now  destroyed  or  removed.  No 
lapse  of  years  or  injury  of  time  could  however  efface  the 
memory  of  the  saint  on  that  spot,  and  in  the  diploma 
wherein  Clement  VIII.  restored  the  locality  to  the 
Dominican  order,  after  it  had  for  some  time  been  alien- 
ated, he  prefaces  the  donation  by  a  long  summary  of 
those  wonderful  events  which  have  made  it  worthy  to  be 
enumerated  among  the  holy  places  of  Rome.  The 
diploma  is  dated  the  19th  of  January,  1611. 

*  Pere  Hyacinth  Besson 


CHAPTEIl  XIX. 

Dominic  leaves  Rome.  He  visits  Bologna  on  his  "way  to  Spain. 
Incidents  of  his  journey.  He  preaches  at  Segovia.  Foundations 
there,  and  at  Madrid.    His  continual  prayer. 

It  was  in  the  autumn  of  1218  that  Dominic  prepared 
to  leave  Home,  in  order  to  visit  the  places  where  his 
children  had  been  forming  so  many  new  settlements 
during  the  short  year  which  had  passed  since  their  first 
dispersion  at  S.  Romain.  That  memorable  year  bad  seen 
them  well-nigh  planted  throughout  Europe;  and  he  felt 
that  the  rapid  increase  of  the  order  rendered  his  own 
presence  and  inspection  of  the  young  houses  a  thing  no 
longer  to  be  delayed.  It  is  said  also,  that  a  feeling  of 
humility  was  one  of  the  motives  which  urged  him  to  leave- 
Home  ;  his  preaching  and  the  fame  of  his  miracles  had 
gained  him  a  reputation  from  which  he  shrank.  We 
therefore  find  him,  in  the  month  of  October,  leaving  the 
city  gates,  with  his  stick,  his  little  bundle,  and  his  copy 
of  the  Gospels,  in  company  with  a  few  of  his  own  religious, 
a  Franciscan,  Brother  Albert,  soon  after  joining  them  on 
the  road  ;  whilst  Hyacinth  and  his  three  companions  set 
out  at  the  same  time  for  the  north.  Dominic's  steps 
were  directed  towards  Bologna,  where  the  brethren  were 
still  in  their  first  convent  of  Santa  Maria  della  Mascharella, 
suffering  many  inconveniences  and  discouragements,  against 
which  they  continued  to  struggle  until  the  month  of 
December  following,  when,  as  we  shall  have  occaasion  to 
show,  the  arrival  of  Heginald  of  Orleans  gave  a  fresh  spirit 
to  their  undertaking. 

Dominic's  visit  lasted  but  a  few  days;  yet  we  can 
easily  imagine  the  joy  and  comfort  which  it  diffused 
among  them.  In  the  course  of  his  stay  the  same  miracle 
which  had  previously  taken  place  in  the  refectory  of  S. 
►Sixtus   was   here   renewed  ;    the   brethren   were    fed   by 


MIRACLE   OF   BOLOGNA.  143 

angels,  and  the  story  is  told  with  such  a  peculiar  quaint- 
ness  by  the  good  Father  Ludovico  Prelormitano,  that  we 
cannot  resist  inserting  the  account  in  his  own  words  : — 
"  After  that  our  most  sweet  father  S.  Dominic  had 
finished  the  arduous  business  committed  to  him  by  the 
Holy  Pontiff  at  Rome,  he  came  to  Bologna,  and  lodged 
at  the  Mascharella,  where  the  friars  still  abode,  not  being 
yet  able  to  go  to  S.  Nicholas  by  reason  of  the  rooms  being 
yet  too  fresh  and  damp.  And  it  happened  on  a  day  that 
by  reason  of  the  multitude  of  the  brethren,  there  was  no 
bread,  except  a  few  very  little  pieces ;  and  the  blessing 
being  given,  the  good  father  raised  his  eyes  and  his  heart 
to  God ;  and  lo !  (januis  clausis)  the  doors  being  closed, 
there  appeared  two  beautiful  youths  with  two  baskets  of 
the  whitest  loaves,  and  giving  one  thereof  to  each  friar, 
they  so  multiplied,  that  abundantly  (ad  saturitatem)  there 
remained  enough  for  three  days.  And  this  great  miracle 
happened  twice  at  Rome  and  twice  at  Bologna.  The 
second  time,  after  the  loaves,  they  gave  a  good  handful  of 
dried  figs.  And  the  brother  who  made  oath  of  the  same 
to  Pope  Gregory  IX.  added  and  said,  '  That  never  had  he 
eaten  better  figs.'  Then  replied  the  Pontiff,  '  Grammercy 
to  Master  Dominic,  for  they  were  not  gathered  in  your 
garden;'  as  though  he  had  said,  'God  did  at  that  time 
produce  them.'  And  the  number  that  ate  was  more  than 
a  hundred  friars.  Benedictus  Deus  /"  He  adds,  "  I 
have  been  in  the  cells  which  the  said  friars  built,  and 
accurately  measured  them,  in  the  year  1528 ;  they  were 
four  feet  and  a  half  wide,  and  scarcely  six  long.  And 
the  rector  of  Santa  Maria  Mascharella,  my  very  dear 
friend,  told  me  that  every  year,  on  the  §ame  day  when 
the  holy  angels  brought  the  heavenly  bread,  most  sweet 
odours  were  perceived  in  the  space  then  occupied  by  the 
refectory,  which  lasted  forty  hours."  The  table  on  which 
the  miraculous  loaves  were  placed  was  left  at  Santa 
Maria  when  the  friars  removed  to  S.  Nicholas,  and  was 
still  to  be  seen,  guarded  by  iron  bars  in  the  wall,  at  the 
time  when  Father  Prelormitano  wrote. 

But  Dominic  soon   left  Bologna  ;     his  journey   being 
now    principally    directed    towards    that   native   country 


£44  LIFE   OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

which  lie  ha*d  not  seen  for  sixteen  years.  Two  anecdotes 
alone  are  left  us  of  his  journey.  It  is  said  that  on  quit- 
ting Bologna  in  company  with  the  Franciscan  before 
mentioned,  they  were  attacked  by  a  fierce  dog,  who  tore 
the  poor  friar's  habit,  so  that  he  was  unable  to  proceed 
on  his  journey,  and  sat  down  by  the  wayside  in  some 
dispair.  Dominic  applied  a  little  mud  to  the  rent  gar- 
ment, and  this  new  kind  of  mending  perfectly  succeeded  ; 
when  the  mud  dried,  the  hahbit  was  discovered  perfectly 
joined  together.  The  other  story  is  thus  amusingly  told 
by  Castiglio  : — "  Having,  one  day,  come  to  an  inn  with 
several  companions,  the  hostess  was  much  disturbed  at 
the  small  gains  she  saw  herself  likely  to  make  by  them  ; 
for  they  being  many,  and  eating  little,  she  saw  herself 
put  to  much  trouble  to  little  purpose.  Wherefore,  as 
the  servants  of  God  conversed  together  on  spiritual 
things,  as  was  their  wont,  she  went  about  grumbling  and 
blaspheming,  saying  all  the  evil  words  that  came  into 
her  mind;  and  the  more  the  holy  father  S.  Dominic 
sought  to  appease  her  with  fair  speeches,  the  more  violent 
she  became,  not  being  willing  to  hear  reason.  At  length, 
being  wholly  disturbed  by  the  noise  of  this  virago,  S. 
Dominic  spoke  to  her  and  said,  'Sister,  since  you  will 
not  leave  us  in  peace  for  the  love  of  God,  I  pray  Him 
that  He  will  Himself  silence  you;'  the  which  words 
were  no  sooner  uttered  than  she  lost  the  power  of  speech, 
and  became  entirely  dumb.  She  continued  so  until  the 
saint's  return  from  Spain,  when,  as  he  stopped  at  the 
same  inn,  she  threw  herself  at  his  feet  to  implore  his 
pardon,  and  he  restored  her  to  the  use  of  her  tongue, 
with  a  warning  that  she  should  use  it  in  future  to  the 
praise  of  God. 

It  was  probably  in  the  course  of  this  journey  that  the 
following  incident  occurred  at  the  city  of  Faenza,  as 
given  in  the  ancient  memoirs  preserved  in  the  convent 
of  that  place.  Albert,  the  bishop  of  Faenza,  was  so 
charmed  by  his  eloquence  and  the  fascination  of  his  dis- 
course, that  he  would  not  allow  him  to  lodge  anywhere 
but  in  the  episcopal  palace.  This  did  not,  however,  pre- 
vent Dominic  from  pursuing  his  ordinary  course  of  life  ; 


JOURNEY   TO   SPAIN.  145 

every  night  he  rose  at  the  hour  of  matins,  as  was  his 
custom,  and  proceeded  to  the  nearest  church  to  assist  at 
the  divine  office.  The  attendants  of  the  bishop  noticed 
this  ;  and  on  watching  him  secretly  to  observe  how  he 
was  able  to  leave  the  palace  without  rousing  the  inmates, 
they  observed  two  beautiful  youths  who  stood  by  the 
door  of  his  chamber  with  lighted  torches,  and  so  led  the 
way  for  him  and  his  companions,  every  door  opening  for 
them  as  they  went  along  ;  and  in  this  way  they  were 
every  night  conducted  in  safety  to  the  church  of  S. 
Andrew,  °whence,  after  the  singing  of  matins,  they  re- 
turned in  like  manner.  When  this  was  made  known 
to  Albert,  he  himself  watched  and  became  an  eye-witness 
of  the  fact  ;  and  in  consequence  he  procured  the  above 
church  to  be  the  foundation  of  a  convent  of  the  order. 
A  memorial  of  the  circumstances  is  preserved  in  the  name 
given  to  the  ground  lying  between  tbe  palace  and  S. 
Andrew's   church,   which   is   still  called     "  The   Angels' 

Field/*  \         ;H  i-Vv. 

Doubtless  many  cities  of  northern  Italy  received  like 
pawing  visits  from  Dominic,  but  no  certain  traditions 
concerning  them  have  been  preserved.  We  can,  there- 
fore but  follow  him  in  imagination,  as  he  made  his 
way  over  the  plains  of  Lombardy,  and  crossing  the  Alps, 
found  himself  once  more  in  the  convent  of  S.  Romain 
at  Toulouse.  The  number  of  the  brethren  was  greatly 
increased,  but  their  prospects,  together  with  those  of  the 
Church  generally  in  those  parts,  had  received  a  serious 
check  by  the  death  of  the  Count  de  Montfort,  and  the 
renewed  persecutions  of  the  heretics.  Dominic  remained 
a  while  with  them  to  encourage  them,  and  nominated 
Bertrand  of  Garriga,  who  had  just  returned  from  Fans, 
their  superior.  He  then  continued  his  journey  to  Spain  ; 
and  we  find  that  before  Christmas  he  was  at  Segovia,  m 
Old  Castile.  One  circumstance  occurred  on  his  way 
which  must  not  be  omitted.  The  brethren  who  travelled 
in  his  company,  discouraged  perhaps  by  the  hardships  ot 
the  journey,  and  yet  more  by  those  which  they  witnessed 
in  the  young  houses  of  Bologna  and  Toulouse,  broke  out 
into   murmurs,    and   even   determined   to   quit  the  habit 


146  LIFE    OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

and  return  to  the  world.  Some  writers  tell  us  that 
these  religious  were  not  those  who  came  from  Italy 
with  the  saint,  but  some  young  Castilian  novices,  who 
had  been  attracted  to  him  by  the  fame  of  his  eloquence 
and  miracles,  and  whose  fervour  cooled  as  soon  as  they 
made  a  closer  acquaintance  with  the  austerity  of  his  rule  \ 
and  this  seems  the  more  probable  conjecture.  However 
that  may  be,  their  discontent  was  soon  discovered  by 
Dominic  :  he  did  his  best  to  deter  them  from  their  pur- 
pose, but  in  vain;  three  only  remained  with  him,  the 
others,  having  put  their  hand  to  the  plough,  looked  back 
and  left  him.  Turning  sadly  and  gently  to  those  who 
remained  faithful,  Dominic  addressed  them  in  the  words 
of  our  Lord  on  a  like  occasion,  "  Will  ye  also  go 
away  ?  "  And  the  memory  of  this  incident  has  been 
preserved  in  a  touching  passage  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  order,  introduced  at  a  later  period  with  an  evident 
allusion  to  these  circumstances.  "  Whenever  novices," 
it  is  said,  "  wish  to  return  to  the  world,  we  command 
all  the  religious  freely  to  let  them  go,  and  to  return 
them  all  that  they  have  brought.  Nor  must  they 
give  them  any  vexation  on  this  account,  after  the  ex- 
ample of  Him,  who,  when  some  of  his  disciples  went 
back,  said  to  those  that  remained,  '  Will  ye  also'  go 
away  V  "*  The  greater  number  of  those  who  had 
abandoned  him,  shortly  afterwards  returned  to  their 
obedience. 

The  city  ef  Segovia,  where  Dominic  first  stopped,  is 
not  far  from  Osma.  His  return  to  those  familiar  scenes, 
so  thick  with  memories  of  his  friendship  with  the  bishop 
Diego,  and  the  long  quiet  years  of  his  early  life,  before 
the  call  of  God  had  drawn  him  before  the  world,  must 
have  been  full  of  singular  emotion  to  a  heart  so  tender 
and  sensitive  as  his  own.  Perhaps  it  was  something  of 
this  natural  affection  for  old  scenes,  linked  to  such  dear 
associations,  that  made  him  fix  on  this  neighbourhood 
for  his  first  foundation  on  his  return  to  his  native  land. 
Only  a  few  particulars  of  his  residence  there  have  been 
preserved.  He  lodged  at  the  house  of  a  poor  woman,  who 
*  Const.  F.  F.  Praed.  d.  i.  c.  14. 


PREACHING  AT  SEGOVIA.  147 

contrived  to  get  possession  of  a  coarse  hair  shirt  which 
he  had  worn,  and  had  laid  aside  to  exchange  it  for  one  of 
yet  harsher  material.  Some  time  afterwards,  the  house 
caught  fire,  and  everything  was  burned  excepting  tho 
box  which  contained  this  precious  relic.  This  hair  shirt 
was  long  preserved  among  the  relics  of  the  monastery  of 
Valladolid.  Dominic  had  not  been  long  in  the  city 
before  he  began  his  usual  work  of  preaching,  and  with 
more  than  usual  success.  Possibly  the  familiar  lan- 
guage of  his  mother-tongue,  and  the  sight  of  those 
Spanish  Hills,  after  the  long  years  of  exile  and  separation, 
gave  a  fresh  inspiration  to  his  words.  It  seemed,  too, 
that  God  was  willing,  that  special  tokens  of  His  miracu- 
lous power  should  accompany  the  preaehing  of  His 
servants.  A  long  drought  had  afflicted  the  country  of 
Segovia,  and  reduced  the  inhabitants  to  the  utmost  dis- 
tress. One  day,  as  they  gathered  together  outside  tho 
walls  to  hear  the  preaching,  Dominic,  after  beginning  his 
discourse,  as  if  suddenly  inspired  by  God,  exclaimed, 
"  Fear  nothing,  my  brethren,  but  trust  in  the  Divine 
mercy.  I  announce  to  you  good  news,  for  to-day  even 
God  will  send  you  a  plentiful  rain,  and  the  drought  shall 
be  turned  into  plenty."  And  shortly  after,  his  words 
were  fulfilled,  for  such  torrents  of  rain  fell,  that  scarcely 
could  the  assembled  crowd  make  their  way  to  their  own 
homes.  The  spot  where  this  took  place  is  still  shown, 
and  the  event  is  commemorated  by  a  little  chapel  which 
has  been  erected  in  his  honour.  On  another  occasion, 
as  he  preached  before  the  senate  of  the  city,  he  spoke 
thus  :  "You  listen  to  the  words  of  an  earthly  king,  hear 
now  those  of  Him  who  is  eternal  and  divine."  One  of 
the  senators  took  offence  at  the  freedom  of  his  words, 
and  mounting  his  horse,  rode  off,  exclaiming  .contemp- 
tuously, "A.  fiue  thing,  forsooth,  for  this  fellow  (ciarla- 
tino)  to  keep  you  here  all  day  with  his  fooleries.  Truly, 
it  is  time  to  go  home  to  dinner  !"  Dominic  looked  at 
him  sorrowfully  :  "  He  goes  as  you  see,"  he  said, 
addressing  the  others,  "  but  within  a  year  he  will  be 
dead."  And,  indeed,  not  many  months  after  this  occur- 
rence, he  was  slain  on  that  very  spot  by  his  own  nephew. 


148  LIFE   OF    S.    DOMINIC. 

Dominic's  preaching  soon  rendered  him  very  popular 
among  the  Segovians.  They  were  proud  of  him  as  a 
fellow-countryman,  and  nocked  together  to  listen  to  him 
wherever  he  appeared.  We  are  told,  that  he  never  spoke 
in  public  without  first  prostrating  in  prayer  before  a  little 
image,  and  repeating  the  versicle,  "  Dignare  me  laudare 
te,  Virgo  sacrata,"  &c.  It  is  with  him  also,  according  to 
Pere  Croiset,  that  the  custom  among  preachers  of  intro- 
ducing the  Ave  Maria  at  the  beginning  of  their  sermon, 
first  arose.  In  a  short  time  a  number  of  new  disciples 
were  gathered  together  at  Segovia,  the  foundations  of  a 
convent  were  laid,  under  the  title  of  the  Holy  Cross  ;  and 
one  of  his  followers,  named  Corbolan,  and  known  as 
"  Blessed  Corbolan  the  Simple,"  was  appointed  prior. 
This  convent  was  erected  close  by  the  little  river  Eresma, 
on  whose  banks  Dominic  was  accustomed  to  address  the 
multitudes.  Close  by  may  still  be  seen  another  spot 
consecrated  by  the  memory  of  his  presence.  It  is  a 
grotto  deep  sunk  in  the  rock,  where  he  was  wont  nightly 
to  retire  from  the  presence  of  his  followers,  to  give  him- 
self up  to  the  free  exercise  of  prayer  and  the  presence  of 
God.  Its  walls  (as  those  testified  who  secretly  watched 
him  at  these  times)  were  often  wet  with  his  tears  and 
his  blood.  This  grotto  now  forms  part  of  the  chapel 
erected  in  his  honour,  and  is  attached  to  the  church.  It 
was  visited  by  S.  Theresa,  who  declared  that  she  received 
such  grace  and  consolation  in  her  visit  to  it,  that  she 
could  have  desired  to  spend  her  life  within  its  recesses. 

As  soon  as  the  convent  of  Segovia  was  founded, 
Dominic  proceeded  to  Madrid.  The  house  already 
founded  there  by  Brother  Peter,  originally  sent  thither 
from  Toulouse,  was  without  the  town.  It  was  very  poor, 
having  a  little  church  like  a  hermitage,  and  a  narrow 
dormitory  without  division.  Dominic  resolved  to  convert 
it  into  a  monastery  of  women,  for  he  considered  its 
revenues  and  endowments  unsuitable  for  his  brethren. 
This,  therefore,  was  the  third  convent  of  sisters  which  he 
founded.  Nor  was  his  care  of  them  inferior  to  that  he 
had  before  bestowed  on  Prouille  and  S.  Sixtus.  A  beauti- 
ful letter  is  still  preserved,  in  which  he  addresses  them  on 


PREACHERS   AT   MADRID.  149 

their  duties  and  vocation.  We  give  part  of  it  as  another 
illustration  of  the  importance  he  evidently  attached  to 
those  external  aids  whereby  the  strictness  and  entireness 
of  the  rule  should  be  perfectly  observed  : — "  Brother 
Dominic,  Master  of  the  Preachers,  to  the  Mother  Prioress, 
and  all  the  convent  of  the  Sisters  of  Madrid,  health 
and  amendment  of  life  by  the  grace  of  God.  We 
rejoice,  and  thank  God  for  your  spiritual  progress,  and 
that  He  has  drawn  you  from  the  mire  of  the  world. 
Combat  still,  my  daughters,  against  your  old  enemy  by 
prayer  and  watching;  for  he  only  shall  be  crowned  who 
has  striven  lawfully.  Hitherto  you  have  had  no  house 
suitable  for  following  all  the  rules  of  our  holy  religion, 
but  now  there  will  be  no  excuse  ;  since  now,  thanks 
be  to  God,  you  have  a  building  where  regular  observance 
can  be  exactly  kept.  Therefore  I  desire  that  silence 
may  now  be  kept  in  all  the  places  enjoined  by  the  Con- 
stitutions,    in     the    choir,    refectory,     dormitories,     and 

wherever  you  live  according  to  rule We  send 

our  dear  brother  Manez,  who  has  laboured  so  much  for 
your  house,  and  has  fixed  you  in  your  holy  state,  to  order 
all  things  as  shall  seem  good  to  him,  to  the  end  that  you 
may  live  holily  and  religiously."  The  people  of  Castile 
received  Dominic  with  extraordinary  marks  of  honour  ; 
Castiglio  gives  us  a  long  list  of  donations  granted  by  the 
magistrates  of  Madrid  to  his  order,  bearing  the  date  of 
May,  1219.  His  sermons  were  listened  to  by  crowds 
of  the  inhabitants,  among  whom  a  wonderful  change  was 
effected  in  a  short  time.  This  change  was  so  great  and 
striking  that,  in  the  words  of  Castiglio,  "  he  could  not  be 
satisfied  with  weeping,  by  reason  of  the  marvellous  and 
heavenly  contentment  which  he  felt  for  the  clear  and 
manifest  favours  of  God,  and  his  tenderness  towards 
sinners."  The  preaching  of  the  Rosary,  as  usual,  was  his 
great  instrument  for  the  conversion  of  the  people,  and 
many  wonders  were  wrought  by  the  extension  of  its 
devotion.  When  at  length  he  prepared  to  return  to 
Toulouse,  the  regret  of  the  citizens  knew  no  bounds  ; 
"  for  his  manner  and  conversation,"  continues  Castiglio, 
"  had  marvellously  captivated  the  souls  of  all,  and  they 


150  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

felt  themselves  raised  on  high  to  great  and  heavenly 
desires,  whilst  their  affections  were  likewise  drawn  to 
him  by  a  singular  tenderness."  There  must,  indeed, 
have  been  something  peculiarly  sweet  and  familiar  in  the 
intercourse  between  him  and  these  converts  of  Madrid; 
for  we  find  him  writing  to  the  Pope  to  declare  their 
fervent  and  devout  dispositions;  and  Honorius  in  conse- 
quence sent  a  brief  conveying  his  special  benediction 
both  to  them  and  the  people  of  Segovia. 

Several  other  convents  were  already  founded  in  Spain, 
but  it  is  uncertain  what  share  S.  Dominic  himself  had  in 
their  establishment.  Nor  is  there  any  universal  agree- 
ment among  authors  as  to  the  cities  he  visited,  though  it 
seems  certain  that  he  made  some  stay  at  the  Palencia,  the 
scene  of  his  early  university  life.  We  have  an  interesting 
memorial  of  this  visit  in  the  will  of  Anthony  Sersus,  who 
leaves  a  certain  sum  for  candles  for  the  confraternity  of 
the  Holy  Rosary,  founded  in  that  place  by  "  the  good 
Dominic  of  Gusman,"  as  he  terms  him.  We  find  by  this 
how  very  early  a  date  may  be  claimed  for  the  confrater- 
nities of  the  Rosary,  which  indeed  were  founded  in  almost 
every  city  wherein  Dominic  preached,  especially  in  the 
north  of  Italy.  For  still,  as  he  passed  from  place  to 
place,  his  work  was  ever  the  same :  he  preached  without 
rest  and  intermission,  and  many  of  the  miracles  attributed 
to  him  by  popular  tradition  are  given  to  us  associated 
with  stories  of  the  propagation  of  the  Rosary.  His  time 
was  never  his  own  :  he  had  long  since  made  it  over  to  God 
for  the  salvation  of  souls  :*  his  idea  of  the  vocation 
of  a  Friar  Preacher  was  one  of  utter  self-abandonment, 
and  so  whenever  he  appeared  abroad  he  was  followed 
by  crowds,  attracted  by  the  odour  of  his  sanctity,  who 
were  accustomed  to  say  that  penance  was  easy  when 
preached  by  Master  Dominic. 

Yet  though  never  alone,  his  life  of  prayer  was  un- 
interrupted ;  the  secret  of  that  perpetual  communion 
with  God  in  the  midst  of  exterior  distractions,  so  ad- 
mirably displayed  in  the  life  of  the  great  spiritual 
daughter  of  his  order,  S.  Catherine  of  Siena,  when 
shc°spoke  of  the  interior   cell  of  the   heart   wherein  she 


HIS   CONTINUAL   PRAYER.  151 

was  wont  to  retire,  was  well  known  to  him  ;  it  was  there 
he  found  his  rest ;  and  the  habit  of  prayer  had  knit  his 
heart  so  close  to  God,  that  nothing  had  the  power  of 
separating  him  from  that  centre,  "  wherein,"  says  Cas- 
tiglio,  "  he  reposed  with  a  marvellous  quiet  and  tran- 
quillity. Never  did  he  lose  that  repose  of  soul  which  is 
essential  to  the  spirit  of  prayer  ;  but  in.  all  his  labours 
and  disquiets,  in  the  midst  of  hunger,  thirst,  fatigue,  long 
journeys,  and  continued  interruption  from  others,  hi3 
heart  was  free  and  ready  to  turn  to  God  at  all  hours, 
as  though  it  were  conscious  of  none  else  but  Him. 
Therefore  many  consolations  were  granted  to  him  that 
are  not  given  to  others  ;  and  of  this  we  have  evidence  in 
his  words,  his  zeal,  and  all  his  actions,  wherein  there 
appeared  a  certain  grace  and  sweetness  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  showing  how  dearly  favoured  was  his  soul."  In 
faet  S.  Dominie  was  pre-emimently  a  man  of  prayer  ;  it  is 
the  feature  above  all  others  which  we  find  traced  upon 
his  life.  By  night  or  by  day,  whether  alone  or  with 
others,  silent  in  contemplation,  or  surrounded  by  the 
distractions  of  an  active  apostolic  vocation,  his  heart 
never  stirred  from  the  true  and  steady  centre  it  had 
so  early  found  in  God  ;  and  in  this  one  fact  lay  the 
secret  -of  all  the  graces  which  adorned  his  most  beautiful 
soul.  It  was  the  source  of  that  interior  tranquillity 
which  fitted  him  to  be  called  "  the  rose  of  patience," 
as4  well  as  of  the  exterior  and  gracious  sweetness  to 
which  all  have  borne  testimony,  and  which  with  him 
was  nothing  else  than  the  fragant  odour  proceeding 
from  the  abiding  presence  of  God. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

Ketum  to  S.  Kornain.    He  proceeds  to  Paris.    Jordan  of  Saxony. 
Interview  with  Alexander,  King  of  Scotland.    Ketnrn  to  Italy. 

We  find  Dominic  once  more  among  the  brethren  of 
S.  Romain  in  the  April  of  the  year  1219.  His  presence 
was  joyfully  welcomed,  nor  was  it  among  his  own  bre- 
thren only  that  his  coming  always  seemed  to  diffuse 
a  spirit  of  gladness;  if  we  may  credit  an  ancient  writer, 
"  even  the  Jews  and  Gentile  Saracens,  whereof  there 
were  so  many  in  Spain,  held  him  dear,  all  save  the 
heretics,  whom  he  was  wont  to  conquer  and  silence 
by  his  preachings."*  And  now,  once  more,  Toulouse 
heard  for  awhile  the  mighty  eloquence  of  that  voice 
which  had  before  carried  the  Gospel  of  peace  over  the 
hills  and  villages  of  Languedoc.  Such  crowds  flocked  to 
hear  him,  that  S.  Romain  could  not  contain  them ;  it  was 
in  the  cathedral  church  of  S.  Stephen,  before  the  bishop 
and  chapter,  that  he  was  obliged  to  deliver  his  sermons  ; 
and  their  fruit  was  an  abundance  of  conversions.  Here 
again  he  gave  himself  without  reserve  to  all  the  labours 
of  his  apostolic  calling.  All  day  long  he  was  in  the  city, 
or  in  the  surrounding  country,  preaching  and  instructing 
the  people;  and  the  night  was  devoted  to  prayer  and 
sharp  austerities.  Here,  too,  all  his  care  and  devotion 
was  lavished  on  his  brethren  and  children,  whom  he 
strove  to  form  to  sanctity.  Prouille  and  S.  Romain  were 
to  him  now,  what  S.  Sixtus  and  Santa  Sabina  had  already 
been  at  Rome  ;  and  another  miracle  of  the  multiplication 
of  the  loaves  is  said  to  have  taken  place  in  the  refectory 
of  S.  Romain. 

Rertrand  of  Garrega  was  his  companion  in  the  journey 
to    Paris,    which   next   lay   before    him.     Some    of    his 
younger  disciples  were   also   with   him,    and   it    was    in 
»  John  of  Spain. 


MIRACLES   ON   THE   WAY.  153 

tenderness  to  their  weakness  and  fatigue  that  he  is  said  to 
have  miraculously  changed  some  water  into  wine,  a  trait 
of  his  characteristic  thoughtfulness  and  compassion;  "for," 
says  Gerard  de  Frachet,  "  they  had  been  tenderly  nur- 
tured in  the  world." 

On  the  road  they  turned  aside  to  visit  the  sanctuary 
of  Roquemadour,  near  Cahors,  where  they  spent  the 
night  praying  in  the  church  of  our  Lady.  The  next 
day,  as  they  journeyed  along,  singing  litanies  and  reciting 
the  Psalms  of  the  divine  office,  two  German  pilgrims 
overtook  them  ;  and  being  greatly  attracted  by  the 
devotion  of  their  exterior,  they  followed  closely  behind 
them.  When  they  came  to  the  next  village,  their  new 
friends  begged  them  to  sit  down  and  dine  with  them  ; 
and  they  continued  this  conduct  for  four  consecutive 
days.  On  the  fifth  day  Dominic  said  to  Bertrand, 
"  Brother  Bertrand,  it  grieves  me  to  reap  the  temporal 
things  of  these  pilgrims,  without  sowing  for  them  spi- 
ritual things  ;  let  us  kneel  down  and  ask  God  to  grant  us 
the  understanding  of  their  language,  that  we  may  speak 
to  them  of  Christ."  They  did  so ;  and  during  the  rest 
of  their  journey  were  able  to  converse  with  them  without 
difficulty.  When  they  drew  near  Paris,  they  separated, 
and  Dominic  charged  Bertrand  to  keep  the  matter  secret 
till  his  death,  "  lest,"  as  he  said,  "  the  people  should  take 
us  for  saints,  who  are  but  sinners."  Jordan  of  Saxony 
tells  us  another  anecdote  of  this  journey,  which  he  heard 
from  the  lips  of  Bertrand  himself :  it  was  that  being 
threatened  with  a  violent  tempest  of  rain,  they  walked 
on  in  the  midst  of  it,  Dominic  making  the  sign  of  the 
cross  as  he  went  along,  and  none  of  them  were  touched 
by  the  floods  of  water  that  fell  around  them.  On  another 
occasion,  when  the  rain  had  drenched  them  through  and 
through,  they  stopped  for  the  night  at  a  little  village, 
and  his  companions  went  to  the  inn  fire  to  dry  their 
clothes,  whilst  Dominic,  as  usual,  made  his  way  to  the 
church,  where  he  spent  the  night  before  the  altar.  In 
the  morning  the  habits  of  the  others  were  still  wet,  but  his' 
were  perfectly  dry  ;  the  fire  of  charity  that  burned  within 
had  communicated  itself  also  to  his  exterior. 


154  LIFE    OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

We  have  already  noticed  the  foundation  of  the  convent 
of  S.  Jacques,  at  Paris;  in  spite  of  all  obstacles,  the 
numbers  of  the  brethren  had  now  increased  to  thirty,  and 
the  presence  of  Dominic  was  a  fresh  encouragement  to 
them.  His  stay  among  them  was  very  short,  but  marked 
by  two  characteristic  proceedings.  His  first  act  was  to 
"  set  in  order  a  regular  house,  with  cloisters,  domitory, 
refectory,  and  cells  for  study  ;"*  for  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  the  brethren  were  in  close  connection  with 
the  university,  where  they  followed  the  course  of  divinity 
and  philosophy  with  the  other  stndents.  Dominic's  next 
step  was  to  carry  out  •  his  usual  law  of  dispersion  ; 
Limoges,  Pheims,  Poitiers  and  Orleans,  were  all  chosen 
as  the  scenes  of  new  foundations  ;  and  the  little  band,  so 
hardly  gathered  together,  were  no  sooner  collected  than 
they  were  scattered  abroad. 

Peter  Cellani,  the  citizen  of  Marseilles  who  had  been 
the  first  benefactor  and  disciple  of  the  order,  was  chosen 
for  Limoges  ;  but  he  ventured  to  plead  his  ignorance, 
and  incapacity  for  preaching.  "  Go,  my  son,"  was  the 
heroic  answer  of  his  leader,  "  go,  and  fear  nothing  :  twice 
every  day  will  I  remember  thee  before  God,  and  do  not 
thou  doubt.  Thou  shalt  gain  many  souls  to  the  Lord, 
and  He  will  be  with  thee."  Peter  obeyed  with  the 
simplicity  so  natural  to  him,  and  was  used  afterwards 
to  say  that  in  all  his  difficulties  he  had  never  invoked 
God  and  S.  Dominic  without  obtaining  relief.  Whilst 
at  Paris.  Dominic  had  the  happiness  of  giving  the  habit  to 
his  old  friend  William  of  Montferrat,  whose  two  years 
of  study  at  the  university  were  now  complete.  His  first 
acquaintance  was  also  made  with  Jordan  of  Saxony,  then 
also  a  young  student  of  the  university.  The  story  of  his 
vocation  to  religion  is  -of  singular  beauty.  He  was 
accustomed  every  morning  to  rise  for  the  matin  service 
of  Notre  Dame  ;  and  whatever  might  be  the  season  or 
the  weather,  nothing  ever  detained  him  in  his  bed.     One 

«  These  words  are  from  Martene's  history,  and  are  an  addition- 
al evidence  of  what  we  huve  before  alluded  to  as  one  of  the  prim- 
ary conditions  of  a  religious  community,  according  to  the  system  of 
S.  Dominic;  namely,  the  "  regular  hoitst." 


INTERVIEW  WITH  ALEXANDER  OF  SCOTLAND.      155 

morning,  fearing  he  was  late,  he  left  his  lodging  in  great 
haste,  and  hurried  to  the  church-door,  which  he  found 
shut,  for  the  hour  was  still  early.  As  he  stood  waiting 
to  enter,  a  beggar  solicited  an  alms,  aud  Jordan  felt 
about  him  for  his  purse,  but  in  haste  he  had  left  it  in  his 
room,  and  he  had  nothing  to  give.  Sooner,  however,  than 
refuse  an  alms  for  the  love  of  God,  he  stripped  off  a  rich 
belt  mounted  in  silver,  which  he  wore  after  the  fashion  of 
the  times,  and  gave  it  to  the  poor  man.  As  he  entered 
the  church,  and  knelt  for  a  moment  before  the  great 
crucifix,  he  saw  the  same  belt  hanging  round  the  neck  of 
the  figure,  and  at  that  moment  a  voice  within  him  called 
him  powerfully  to  the  closer  service  of  God.  This  call, 
and  the  desires  to  which  it  gave  rise,  pursued  him  without 
rest,  and  when  he  heard  of  the  fame  of  Dominic,  he 
resolved  to  lay  the  whole  state  of  his  soul  before  him. 
His  counsel  and  direction  restored  his  peace ;  but  he  did 
not  take  the  habit  until  Reginald  of  Orleans  finally  won 
him  to  the  order  by  his  eloquence. 

Another  interesting  incident  of  Dominic's  visit  to 
Paris,  as  connected  with  the  history  of  the  order  in  our 
own  island,  is  his  interview  with  Alexander  II.,  king  of 
Scotland.  This  monareh  was  then  at  the  French  capital 
for  the  purpose  of  renewing  the  ancient  alliance  of  his 
crown  with  the  royal  house  of  France.  The  Princess 
Blanche,  mother  to  St  Louis,  had  a  particular  esteem  for 
S.  Dominic,  and  often  invited  him  to  her  court,  and  there 
probably  the  Scottish  king  first  met  with  the  Patriarch 
of  the  Friars  Preachers.  We  know  nothing  of  the  par- 
ticulars of  their  interview;  but  we  are  assured  that  he 
eagerly  pressed  the  saint  to  send  some  of  his  brethren  to 
Scotland,  and  promised  them  his  fatherly  and  royal  pro- 
tection. At  what  exact  period  this  request  was  granted 
seems  a  little  doubtful  ;*  but  it  is  certain  that  Alexander 
did  build  several  convents  for  the  fathers  in  his  kingdom, 
and  always  bore  a  singular  love  to  the  order.  Eight 
religious  were  sent  into  Scotland,  headed  by  one  Father 
Clement,  afterwards  bishop  of  Dublin;  and  no  less  than 

*The  Melross  Chronicle  assigns  the  year  1230    as  the  earliest 
date  of  the  establishment  of  the  order  in  Scotland. 


156  LI]    '  OP  S.  DOMINIC. 

eight  monasteries  "were  founded  in  that  country  during  the 
the  reign  of  this  prince. 

The  period  of  his  short  visit  being  expired,  Dominic 
once  more  took  the  road  to  Italy,  accompanied  only  by 
William  de  Montferrat,  and  a  lay  brother  who  had  come 
with  him  from  Spain.  All  these  long  journeys  were  per- 
formed on  foot,  in  the  fashion  of  poor  pilgrims ;  and  their 
rapidity,  and  the  short  rest  he  allowed  himself,  fill  us 
with  admiration  for  the  energy  and  courage  which  they 
evince.  His  joyous  and  manly  temperament  of  spirit 
bore  him  on  in  spite  of  all  fatigues  and  dangers,  and  in 
those  days  footr-travelling  over  wild  and  uncultivated 
countries  must  have  been  plentiful  in  both.  Passing 
through  Burgundy,  he  arrived  at  Chatillon  on  the  Seine, 
where  he  was  charitably  lodged  by  a  poor  ecclesiastic; 
but  Dominic  richly  repaid  his  kindness,  for  whilst  he  was 
yet  in  the  house,  the  news  was  brought  him  that  his  host's 
nephew  had  fallen  from  a  high  roof,  and  was  being  brought 
home  dead.  Dominic  went  to  meet  him,  and  restored  him 
to  nis  parents  alive  and  well.  Other  miracles  of  healing 
also  marked  his  stay  in  the  place,  from  whence  he  proceeded 
on  to  Avignon,  where  a  little  trace  of  his  sojourn  may 
yet  be  seen  in  a  well,  bearing  an  inscription  to  the  effect 
that  in  1219  the  founder  of  the  Friars  Preachers  blessed 
this  water,  which  has  since  restored  health  to  many  sick 
persons. 

All  Dominic's  companions  were  not  quite  such  good 
travellers  as  himself.  We  find  that  as  they  were  making 
their  way  through  the  passes  of  the  Lombard  Alps,  the 
strength  and  courage  of  poor  Brother  John,  the  Spanish 
lay  brother,  entirely  failed  him:  overcome  with  hunger 
and  fatigue,  he  sat  down,  unable  to  proceed  further.  The 
good  father  said  to  him,  "  What  is  the  matter,  my  son, 
that  you  stop  thus?"  And  he  replied,  "Because,  father, 
I  am  dying  of  hunger."  "Take  courage,  my  son,"  said 
the  saint ,  "yet  a  little  further,  and  we  shall  find  some 
place  in  which  we  may  rest."  But  as  Brother  John 
replied  again  that  he  was  utterly  unable  to  proceed  any 
further,  Dominic  had  recourse  to  his  usual  expedient  of 
prayer.     Then  he  bade  him  go  to  a  spot  he  pointed  out, 


RETURNS  TO  ITALY.  157 

and  take  up  what  lie  should  find  there.  The  poor  brother 
dragged  himself  to  the  place  indicated,  and  found  a  loaf  of 
exquisite  whiteness,  which,  by  the  saint's  orders,  he  ate, 
and  felt  his  strength  restored.  Then,  having  asked  him  if 
he  were  revived,  Dominic  bade  him  take  the  remains  of  the 
loaf  back  to  the  place  where  he  found  it ;  and  having  done 
so,  they  continued  their  route.  As  they  went  on,  the 
marvel  of  the  thing  seemed  to  strike  the  brother  for  the 
first  time.  "Who  put  the  loaf  there?"  he  said;  "I  was 
surely  beside  myself  to  take  it  so  quietly  !  Holy  father, 
tell  me  whence  did  that  loaf  come?"  "  Then,"  says  the 
old  writer,  Gerard  de  Frachet,  who  has  related  this  story, 
"  this  true  lover  of  humility  replied :  '  My  son,  have  you 
not  eaten  as  much  as  you  needed  ?'  And  he  said,  '  Yes.' 
'Since,  then,'  replied  the  saint,  'you  have  eaten  enough, 
give  thanks  to  God,  and  trouble  not  yourself  about  the 
rest/  " 

And  now  Dominic  was  once  more  on  the  Italian  soil, 
which  thenceforth  he  never  quitted  to  the  day  of  his  death. 
It  was  the  summer  of  1219;  only  eight  months  had 
elapsed  since  he  had  quitted  Rome,  and  within  that  space 
he  had  spread  his  order  through  the  whole  extent  of  Spain 
and  France.  His  road  was  literally  marked  by  new  foun- 
dations ;  we  may  trace  it  on  the  map  by  the  convents  that 
date  their  origin  from  this  time.  Asti,  Bergamo,  and 
Milan,  all  received  him  with  marks  of  honour ;  at  Bergamo 
he  was  detained  by  a  severe  illness,  which  even  compelled 
him  to  discontinue  his  abstinence  and  fasting — a  fact 
noticed  as  almost  unexampled  in  his  life.  At  Milan  he 
was  welcomed  as  the  messenger  of  God;  the  canon  of  S. 
Nazaire,  in  particular,  received  him  with  singular  marks  of 
affection,  and  three  celebrated  professors,  all  citizens  of  that 
place,  received  his  habit.  In  company  with  these  new 
brethren  he  set  out  for  Bologna,  where  he  arrived  about 
the  month  of  August ;  but  it  is  time  for  us  to  give  some 
brief  account  of  the  progress  of  that  convent  since  the 
period  of  his  last  visit  to  it  in  the  preceding  year. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  Convent  of  Bologna.  Effects  of  Reginald's  preaching  and 
government.  Fervour  of  the  Community  of  S.  Nicholas. 
Conversion  of  Fathers  Roland  and  Moneta.  Dispersion  of 
the  brethren  through  the  cities  of  Northern  Italy.  Reginald's 
novices.  Robaldo.  Bonviso  of  Placentia.  Stephen  of  Spain. 
Rodolph  of  Faenza.  Reginald  is  sent  to  Paris.  Jordan  joins 
the  Order.    Reginald's  success  -  and  death. 

The  progress  of  the  brethren  of  Bologna  at  their  little 
convent  of  La  Mascharella  had  been  slow,  and  their  diffi- 
culties and  discouragements  very  great,  up  to  the  time  of 
the  arrival  amongst  them  of  Reginald  of  Orleans.  As 
soon  as  he  returned  from  the  Holy  Land,  he  set  out  for 
Bologna,  according  to  his  previous  agreement  with  S. 
Dominic,  and  arrived  there  on  the  21st  of  December,  1218. 
His  presence  caused  an  immediate  change  in  the  position 
of  the  friars;  he  held  the  authority  of  vicar-general  in 
Dominic's  absence,  and  his  extraordinary  powers  of 
government,  added  to  the  brilliancy  of  that  eloquence 
which  so  remarkably  distinguished  him,  infused  a  fresh 
spirit  into  the  community,  whilst  crowds  of  those  who  had 
before  treated  them  with  contempt  now  crowded  about 
their  church  in  hopes  of  catching  the  words  of  the  cele- 
brated preacher.  There  was  a  certain  vehemence  of 
spirit  about  Reginald  that  carried  all  before  him;  very 
soon  the  church  was  too  small  to  contain  his  audience, 
and  he  was  compelled  to  preach  in  the  streets  and  public 
piazzas ;  the  people  came  from  all  the  surrounding  towns 
and  country  to  hear  him,  and  the  age  of  the  apostles 
seemed  to  have  returned.  The  fire  of  his  words  produced 
an  astonishing  effect  on  the  hearts  of  all  who  listened ; 
and  whilst  a  general  change  of  manners  was  observed 
among  all  ranks,  a  vast  number  were  kindled  with  a  holy 
and  impetuous  enthusiasm,  and  feeling  the  call  of  God 
in  their  hearts,  they  turned  their  backs  on  the  world,  and 


S.    NICHOLAS   BELLE   VIGNE.  159 

eagerly  demanded  the  habit  of  religion.  "  He  was  filled 
with  a  burning  and  vehement  eloquence,"  says  Brother 
Jordan,  "  which  kindled  the  hearts  of  his  hearers,  as 
though  with  a  lighted  torch."  Within  six  months  Regi- 
nald received  more  than  a  hundred  persons  into  the 
order:  among  them  were  several  of  the  most  distin- 
guished doctors  and  students  of  the  university ;  and  it 
came  to  be  a  common  saying,  that  it  was  scarce  safe  to 
go  and  hear  Master  Reginald,  if  you  did  not  wish  to  take 
the  friar's  habit 

This  rapid  increase  of  the  brethren  soon  rendered  their 
habitation  too  small  for  them.  Early  in  the  spring 
of  1219,  they  removed  to  the  church  and  convent  of 
S.  Nicholas  delle  Vigne,  situated  without  the  walls. 
Many  miraculous  signs  had  betokened  the  future  sanctity 
of  this  place;  angels  had  been  heard  singing  over  it  by 
those  who  worked  in  the  vineyards;  and  a  kind  of  uni- 
versal tradition  had  pointed  it  out  as  some  day  to  be  a 
place  of  prayer  and  pilgrimage.  The  life  led  within  its 
walls,  under  the  government  of  Blessed  Reginald,  was 
a  worthy  fulfilment  of  these  auguries.  It  was  the 
strictest  and  most  fervent  realization  of  the  rule  of 
Dominic  which  has  ever  been  seen.  Many  of  the  bre- 
thren closely  imitated  him  in  their  nightly  watchings  and 
discipline,  and  in  the  devotions  which  were  dear  and 
peculiar  to  himself.  At  no  hour  of  day  or  night  could 
you  enter  the  church  without  seeing  some  of  the  friars 
engaged  in  fervent  prayer.  After  compline  they  all 
visited  the  altar,  after  the  manner  of  their  holy  founder ; 
and  the  sight  of  their  devotion,  as  they  bathed  the  ground 
with  their  tears,  filled  the  bystanders  with  wonder. 
After  singing  matins  very  few  returned  to  bed ;  most  of 
them  spent  the  night  in  prayer  or  study,  and  all  con- 
fessed before  celebrating  the  Holy  Sacrifice.  Their 
devotion  to  the  Mother  of  God  was  of  the  tenderest 
kind.  Twice  every  day  they  visited  her  altar,  after 
matins  and  again  at  compline,  walking  round  it  three 
times,  as  they  sang  canticles  in  her  honour,  and  recom- 
mended themselves  and  their  order  to  her  love  and  pro- 
tection.      They  held  it  a  matter  of   conscience   never  to 


1G0  LIFE    OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

eat  till  they  had  first  announced  the  word  of  God  to  some 
soul.  They  also  served  in  the  hospitals  of  the  city, 
adding  the  corporal  to  the  spiritual  works  of  mercy  ;  and 
in  spite  of  the  excessive  austerity  of  their  lives,  it  is  said 
such  was  the  joy  of  their  hearts,  shining  out  in  their 
countenances,  that  they  seemed  none  other  than  angels 
in  the  habit  of  men.  The  strict  observance  of  the  rule 
of  silence  practised  among  them  is  illustrated  by  the 
following  anecdote.  One  night  a  friar,  being  in  prayer 
in  the  choir,  was  seized  by  some  invisible  hand,  and 
dragged  violently  about  the  church,  so  that  he  cried  aloud 
for  help.  These  disturbances,  arising  from  diabolic 
malice,  were  very  frequent  in  the  beginning  of  the  order ; 
and  at  the  sound  of  the  cry  more  than  thirty  brethren, 
guessing  the  cause,  ran  into  the  church  and  endeavoured 
to  assist  the  sufferer,  but  in  vain ;  they  too  were  roughly 
handled,  and,  like  him,  dragged  and  thrown  about  with- 
out pity.  At  length  Reginald  himself  appeared,  and, 
taking  the  unfortunate  friar  to  the  altar  of  S.  Nicholas, 
he  delivered  him  from  his  tormentor.  And  all  this  while, 
in  spite  of  the  alarm  and  horror  of  the  circumstances, 
not  one  of  those  present,  who  amounted  in  all  to  a  con- 
siderable number,  ventured  to  speak  a  single  word,  or  so 
much  as  to  utter  a  sound.  The  first  cry  of  the  vexed 
brother  was  the  only  one  uttered  during  the  whole  of 
that  night. 

This  admirable  discipline  was  certainly  attained  and 
preserved  by  the  practice  of  a  somewhat  rigid  severity; 
yet  its  very  sharpness  attests  the  perfection  which  must 
have  been  reached  by  those  who  could  have  inflicted  or 
accepted  it.  In  the  following  anecdote,  as  given  by 
Gerard  de  Frachet,  the  supernatural  and  passionless  self- 
command  exhibited  by  the  chief  actor,  robs  the  story  of 
that  austere  character  which  might  make  an  ordinary 
reader  shrink,  and  clothes  it  with  a  wonderful  dignity  and 
sublimity.  A  lay  brother  had  committed  a  slight  in- 
fringement of  the  law  of  poverty,  and  on  conviction  of 
his  offence,  refused  to  accept  the  penalty  imposed. 
Reginald  perceived  the  rising  spirit  of  insubordination, 
and    at    once    prepared    to    extinguish  it.     Causing  the 


ROLAND   OP   CREMONA.  161 

delinquent  to  bare  his  shoulders,  he  raised  his  eyes 
to  heaven,  bathed  in  tears,  and  calmly  and  gently,  as 
though  presiding  in  choir,  pronounced  the  following 
prayer : — "  0  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  gavest  to  thy 
servant  Benedict  the  power  to  expel  the  devil  from  the 
bodies  of  his  monks  through  the  rod  of  discipline,  grant 
me  the  grace  to  overcome  the  temptation  of  this  poor 
brother  through  the  same  means.  Who  livest  and 
reignest,  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  for  ever 
and  ever,  Amen."  Then  he  struck  him  so  sharply  that 
the  brethren  were  moved  to  tears,  but  the  penitent  was 
reclaimed,  nor  did  he  ever  again  relapse  into  a  similar 
fault.  This  sort  of  chastisement  was  a  very  ordinary 
means  which  he  used  to  deliver  them  from  the  assaults  of 
the  devil ;  yet  we  should  err  if  we  attributed  to  him  a 
harsh  or  tyrannical  spirit.  It  was  a  severity  wholly 
compatible  with  the  sweetness  which  formed  a  peculiarity 
of  his  character;  for  the  very  tenderness  of  his  love 
towards  his  children  was  the  cause  of  that  severity  he 
showed  against  the  enemy  of  their  souls.  They  certainly 
never  looked  on  it  in  any  other  light,  for  he  was  beloved 
as  a  father,  and  the  fame  of  his  strict  discipline  did  not 
keep  multitudes  from  embracing  it  as  their  surest  guide 
to  heaven. 

The  first  who  joined  the  order  after  the  arrival  of 
Reginald,  was  Roland  of  Cremona,  the  public  Reader  01 
Philosophy  at  the  University.  His  coming  was  most  oppor- 
tune, for  the  brethren  were  then  still  suffering  from  the 
old  spirit  of  discouragement ;  and  in  spite  of  the  presence 
of  Reginald  among  them,  some  had  even  resolved  on 
quitting  the  order.  They  were  assembled  in  Chapter, 
engaged  in  earnest  and  sorrowful  conference,  when  the 
door  suddenly  opened,  and  Roland  appeared  among 
them  and  impetuously  demanded  the  habit.  Reginald, 
yielding  to  a  sudden  inspiration,  took  off  his  own 
scapular  and  flung  it  over  his  shoulders.  The  incident 
seemed  to  restore  the  spirit  and  courage  of  the  whole 
assembly,  and  the  fame  of  Roland's  conversion  was  the 
means  of  inducing  many  of  his  former  companions  to  take 
a  similar  step.     Another  remarkable  conversion  was  that 


162  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

of  Brother  Moneta,  also  a  professor  of  the  University, 
but  a  man  who,  until  the  coming  of  Reginald,  had  been 
wont  to  ridicule  all  religion,  and  to  live  without  any  of 
its  restraints.  Hearing  of  the  wondarful  effects  of  the 
new  preacher's  eloquence,  he  feared  to  expose  himself  to 
its  influence,  and  kept  away.  One  day,  however,  being 
the  feast  of  S.  Stephen,  some  of  the  scholars  endeavoured 
to  carry  him  with  them  to  hear  the  preaching.  Not 
liking  to  refuse,  and  yet  unwilling  to  comply,  Moneta 
proposed  that  they  should  first  hear  Mass  at  S.  Procolus. 
They  went,  and  stayed  during  three  Masses,  till,  unable 
to  delay  longer,  Moneta  was  obliged  to  accompany  the 
others  to  Santa  Maria,  where  Reginald  was  then  deli- 
vering his  sermon.  The  doors  were  so  crowded  that 
they  could  not  enter,  and  Moneta  remained  standing  on 
the  threshold.  But  as  he  stood  there  he  could  command  a 
view  of  the  whole  scene,  and  every  word  reached  his  ear. 
A  dense  mass  of  people  filled  the  church,  yet  not  a  sound 
broke  the  words  of  the  preacher.  He  was  speaking  on  the 
words  of  S.  Stephen,  the  saint  of  the  day:  "Behold,  I  see 
heaven  open,  and  Jesus  standing  at  the  right  hand  of 
God."  "  Heaven  is  open  to-day  also,"  he  exclaimed ;  "  the 
door  is  ever  open  to  him  who  is  willing  to  enter.  Why  do 
you  delay  1  Why  do  you  linger  on  the  threshold  ?  What 
blindness,  what  negligence  is  this!  The  heavens  are 
still  open!"  And  lo!  as  he  listened,  Moneta's  heart  was 
changed  and  conquered.  As  Reginald  came  down  from 
the  pulpit,  he  was  met  by  his  new  penitent,  who  abandoned 
himself  to  his  direction,  and  after  remaining  in  the  world 
under  probation  for  a  year,  he  was  received  to  the  habit, 
and  became  himself  the  founder  of  several  convents. 
His  after  holiness  equalled  the  irregularity  of  his  former 
life.  He  died  full  of  years  and  of  merit,  and,  it  is  said, 
blind  from  his  constant  weeping.  It  was  in  his  cell 
that  the  great  patriarch  breathed  his  last,  as  we  shall 
hereafter  relate. 

Such  was  the  position  of  the  community  of  Bologna, 
when  Dominic  again  appeared  among  them.  His  first 
act  was  to  make  a  renunciation  of  certain  endowments 
which  had  been  made  over  to  the  convent  by  a  citizen  of 


BROTHER   ROBALDO.  163 

the  place.  Dominic  tore  the  contract  in  pieces  with  his 
own  hands,  declaring  they  would  rather  beg  their  bread 
than  depart  from  their  law  of  poverty.  His  next  step 
was  one  which  perhaps  a  little  moderated  the  joy  caused 
by  his  presence ;  it  was  another  dispersion  of  the  society 
so  newly  gathered  together.  Religious  were  sent  to  every 
one  of  the  towns  where,  as  he  passed  through  on  his  late 
journey,  he  had  prepared  the  way  for  their  reception; 
and  in  a  few  weeks,  Milan,  Bergamo,  Asti,  Verona,  Flor- 
ence, Brescia,  Faenza,  Placenza,  and  other  cities  of  Tuscany 
and  Lombardy,  received  little  companies  of  the  new  apostles. 
There  was,  doubtless,  a  reason  for  this  very  extensive  dis- 
persion of  the  order  throughout  the  north  of  Italy ,  it  may 
be  found  in  the  fact  that  that  country  was  at  the  time 
overrun  by  the  self-same  destructive  heresy  of  the  Manicheans 
which  had  produced  such  desolating  effects  in  France.  This 
was  the  great  enemy  against  which  the  Order  of  Friars 
Preachers  had  been  raised  to  combat;  and  wherever  it 
showed  its  head,  Dominic  knew  that  he  and  his  faithful 
soldiers  had  a  call  to  follow.  If  the  community  of  Bologna 
was  greatly  reduced  by  these  colonies  sent  to  other  cities, 
its  numbers  were  soon  made  up  by  fresh  acquisitions. 
Among  those  clothed  by  the  holy  father  was  Brother 
Robaldo,  who  afterwards  became  distinguished  for  his  suc- 
cess against  the  heretics  in  the  city  of  Milan.  A  somewhat 
amusing  story  is  told  of  him  when  preaching  there.  The 
Manicheans  then  filled  the  city  in  great  numbers,  and 
treated  the  Catholic  missionaries  with  the  utmost  insolence. 
As  Robaldo  was  one  day  in  prayer  before  the  high  altar  of 
the  church,  a  band  of  these  miscreants  determined  to  divert 
themselves  at  his  expense,  and  sent  one  of  their  number  in 
to  practise  a  joke  upon  him.  "  Father,"  said  the  heretic, 
"  I  well  know  you  are  a  man  of  God,  and  able  to  obtain 
whatsoever  you  wish  by  prayer  ;  I  pray  you,  therefore,  to 
make  over  me  the  sign  of  the  cross,  for  I  suffer  from  a 
cruel  fever,  and  I  would  fain  receive  my  cure  from  youi 
hands."  Robaldo  knew  well  the  malice  of  his  enemy,  and 
replied,  "  My  son,  if  you  have  this  fever,  I  pray  God  to 
deliver  you ;  if  you  have  it  not,  but  are  speaking  lies,  I 
pray  Him  to  send  it  to  you  as  a  chastisement."  The  man 
m  2 


164  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC, 

instantly  felt  the  approach  of  the  malady  he  had  feigned, 
and  cried,  impatiently,  "Sign  me  with  the  cross,  I  say, 
sign  me;  it  is  not  your  custom  to  send  curses  upon  men, 
but  cures."  But  Robaldo  replied  again,  "What  I  have 
said,  I  have  said;  if  you  have  it,  may  He  deliver  you;  if 
not,  you  will  surely  have  it."  Meanwhile,  the  others  stood 
at  the  door,  laughing  to  see  the  saint,  as  they  thaught, 
made  a  fool  of;  but  their  merriment  was  soon  silenced,' 
when  they  saw  their  companion  return  to  them  with  every 
symptom  of  the  fever  he  had  before  pretended.  The  result 
of  these  circumstances  was  his  own  conversion,  and  that  of 
his  entire  family;  and  Bobaldo,  on  his  sincere  penitence 
restored  him  to  health,  and  received  him  and  all  his 
children  into  the  communion  of  the  church. 

Bonviso  of  Placentia,  was  another  of  the  novices  clothed 
at  Bologna  by  the  great  patriarch.  Before  he  was  pro- 
fessed he  was  sent  to  preach  in  his  own  country,  and  very 
unwillingly  he  went,  for  his  humility  made  him  fear  lest 
he  should  fail,  and  bring  disgrace  on  the  order.  Dominic 
however,  encouraged  him,  and  said,  "God's  words  will  be  in 
your  mouth,  my  son  ;  go  without  fear,  and  do  my  will  •" 
and  Bonviso  never  felt  afterwards  any  difficulty  in  preach- 
ing. He  was  one  of  those  who  gave  their  evidence  on  the 
canonization  of  the  saint,  and  says  that  so  long  as  he  knew 
him  he  never  slept  save  on  benches  or  on  the  ground  and 
never  m  any  particular  place;  but  sometimes  in  the  church, 
sometimes  in  the  dormitory,  and  often  in  the  burial-place  of 
the  convent  Stephen  of  Spain  was  another  of  the  new 
disciples  of  the  order  ;  his  conversion  was  remarkable.  He 
has  lnmself  described  it,  being  at  the  time  a  student  at 
Bologna.  «  Whilst  I  was  there,"  he  says,  «  Master  Domi- 
nic arrived  and  preached  to  the  students  and  others  and 
I  went  to_  confession  to  him,  and  I  thought  he  loved  me 
One  evening,  I  was  sitting  down  to  supper  with  my  com- 
ponions,  when  two  of  the  friars  came  to  me,  and  said, 
Master  Dominic  is  asking  for  you,'  and  I  replied  that  I 
would  come  as  soon  as  I  had  supped.  But  they  repeat- 
ing that  he  expected  me  at  once,  I  rose,  and,  leaving  every- 
thing as  it  was,  I  came  to  S.  Nicholas,  where  I  found 
Master  Dominic  in  the  midst  of  a  number  of  the  friars 


FERVOUR   OF    THE   COMMUNITY.  165 

He  turned  to  them,  and  said,  '  Show  him  how  to  make  the 
prostration,'  and  they  having  shown  me  how  to  do  it,  I  made 
it,  and  he  instantly  gave  me  the  habit  of  a  friar  preacher. 
I  have  never  thought  of  this  without  astonishment,  reflect- 
ing by  what  instinct  he  could  thus  have  called  and  clothed 
me,  for  I  had  never  spoken  to  him  of  the  matter ;  where- 
fore I  doubt  not  he  acted  by  some  divine  revelation." 
Stephen  was  another  of  the  witnessess  on  the  canonization, 
whose  evidence  is  preserved  among  the  other  "Acts  of 
Bologna." 

Another  very  distinguished  member  of  the  family  of 
Bologna  was  Rodolph  of  Faenza,  whom  we  notice  here, 
though  he  entered  the  order  at  an  earlier  period.  Some 
affirm  that  he  acted  as  confessor  to  S.  Dominic,  and  it  is 
said  that  the  saint,  being  at  one  period  afflicted  on  account 
oi  the  withdrawl  of  some  who  had  at  first  given  themselves 
to  God,  Rodolph  was  granted  a  vision,  wherein  he  saw 
our  Lord  and  His  Blessed  Mother,  who  laid  their  hands 
on  his  head  and  comforted  him ;  after  which  they  led  him 
out  to  the  shores  of  the  river,  and  showed  him  a  great 
ship  as  it  were,  laden  with  brethren  dressed  in  the  habit, 
and  said  to  him,  "  Seest  thou  all  these,  Brother  Rodolph ! 
They  are  all  of  thy  order,  and  are  going  forth  to  fill  and 
replenish  the  world."  Rodolph  acted  as  procurator  to 
the  convent ;  and  on  one  occasion,  he  made  some  trifling 
addition  to  the  two  dishes  allowed  by  the  rule  ;  this 
greately  displeased  Dominic,  who  himself  never  tasted  but 
one ;  and  calling  the  procurator  to  his  side,  he  whispered, 
"  Why  do  you  seek  to  bribe  the  brothers  with  these  pit- 
tances?" And  yet  we  are  assured  the  addition  to  their 
ordinary  fare  was  of  the  plainest  kind.  "  Dominic's  own 
dinner,"  adds  Rodolph,  "was  so  spare,  and  so  quickly 
finished,  that  often,  as  he  waited  whilst  the  others  des- 
patched their  meal,  he  fell  asleep  for  weariness,  after  his 
long  vigils." 

Such  were  some  of  the  brethren  of  the  convent  of  S. 
Nicholas.  Its  reputation  for  sanctity  came  to  be  so  great 
that  men  spoke  of  it  as  a  kind  of  harbour  of  salvation ;  as 
may  be  illustrated  by  the  following  beautiful  story  which 
is  given  us  by  Taegius  and  others.      There  was  a  certain 


16G  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

cleric  in  Bologna  of  great  learning,  but  devoted  to  worldly 
vanity,  and  to  other  than  a  holy  life.  Now,  one  night  he 
seemed  suddenly  to  be  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  field,  and 
above  him  the  sky  was  covered  with  clouds,  and  rain  fell 
in  great  abundance,  and  there  was  a  terrible  tempest. 
He,  therefore,  desiring  to  escape  from  the  hail  and  light- 
ning, looked  all  arouud  him  to  see  if  by  any  means  he 
might  find  a  place  of  shelter,  but  he  found  none.  Then 
at  the  last  he  perceived  a  small  house,  and  going  to  it 
he  knocked,  for  the  door  was  fast  shut.  And  a  voice 
spoke  to  him  from  within  saying,  u  What  wantest  thou  ?" 
And  he  said  "A  night's  lodging,  because  of  the  great  storm 
that  is  raging.' '  But  the  keeper  of  the  house  answered 
him,  saying,  "  I  am  Justice,  and  this  is  my  house ;  but 
thou  canst  not  cuter  here,  for  thou  art  not  just."  Then  he 
went  away  sad,  and  presently  he  came  to  a  second  house, 
and  he  knocked  there  likewise ;  and  the  keeper  answered 
and  said,  "  I  am  Peace,  but  there  is  no  peace  for  the 
wicked,  but  only  to  them  of  good  will.  Nevertheless,  be- 
cause my  thoughts  are  thoughts  of  peace,  and  not  of  afflic- 
tion, therefore  I  will  counsel  thee  for  what  thou  shalt  do. 
A  little  way  from  hence  dwelleth  my  sister,  Mercy,  who 
ever  helpeth  the  afflicted  :  go,  therefore,  to  her,  and  do  even 
as  she  shall  command  thee."  So  he,  continuing  on  his  way, 
came  to  the  door  of  mercy,  and  she  said  to  him,  "  If  thou 
wouldst  save  thyself  from  this  tempest,  go  to  the  convent 
of  S.  Nicholas  where  dwell  the  Friars  Preachers;  there 
thou  shalt  find  the  food  of  doctrine,  the  ass  of  simplicity, 
the  ox  of  discretion;  Mary  who  will  illuminate,  Joseph 
who  will  make  perfect,  and  Jesus  who  will  save  thee."  And 
he,  coming  to  himself,  and  thinking  well  on  the  words  of 
Mercy,  went  quickly  and  with  great  devotion  received  the 
holy  habit. 

The  great  talents  and  success  of  Blessed  Reginald 
determined  Dominic  to  remove  him  to  Paris,  in  the  hopes 
that  he  would  do  as  much  for  the  convent  there  estab- 
lished as  he  had  done  for  that  of  Bologna.  His  departure 
was  a  severe  grief  to  his  brethren ;  they  wept  as  though 
torn  from  the  arms  of  their  mother  ;  but  the  expectations 
of  their   founder   were  fully  realized   in   the   short    but 


HENRY  OF  COLOGNE.  167 

brilliant  career  which  awaited  Reginald  in  the  French 
capital.  That  marvellous  eloquence,  whose  vehemence 
was  so  irresistible,  while  at  the  same  time  so  far  removed 
from  mere  human  impetuosity,  soon  drew  all  to  hear 
him.  When  he  preached,  the  streets  were  deserted ;  his 
holy  life,  too,  so  corresponded  to  his  words,  that  men 
looked  on  him  as  an  angel  of  God.  "  All  judged  him  to 
be  one  come  down  from  heaven,"  says  an  old  writer ; 
and  indeed  the  students  and  citizens  of  Paris  were  best 
able  to  appreciate  the  worth  of  one  whose  sacrifice  to  the 
cause  of  religion  they  had-  witnessed  with  their  own  eyes. 
Matthew  of  France,  the  superior  of  the  convent  of  S.  James, 
who  had  himself  been  a  student  at  Paris  in  former  years, 
when  Reginald  was  professor  in  the  same  university, 
asked  him  once  how  he,  who  had  been  used  to  so  lux- 
urious and  brilliant  a  life  in  the  world,  had  found  it 
possible  to  persevere  in  the  severe  discipline  of  their  order. 
Reginald  cast  his  eyes  humbly  to  the  ground.  "  Truly, 
father,"  he  said,  "I  do  not  think  to  merit  anything  for 
that  before  the  tribunal  of  God.  He  has  given  me  so 
much  consolation  in  my  soul,  that  the  rigours  of  which 
you  speak  have  become  very  sweet  and  easy  "  And  this, 
indeed,  appeared  in  all  he  did;  for  whilst  he  was  constantly 
distinguished  for  the  exceeding  austerity  of  his  life,  he  did 
all  things  with  such  a  ready  and  joyful  spirit  that  he 
taught  men  the  sweetness  of  the  Cross  by  the  very  light- 
ness with  which  he  bore  it. 

Among  the  disciples  whom  he  drew  into  the  order,  and 
who  received  the  habit  at  his  hands,  was  Jordan  ot 
Saxony.  We  have  already  spoken  of  his  first  vocation  to 
religion,  but  he  did  not  finally  determine  on  taking  the 
habit  until  overcome  by  the  persuasions  of  Reginald. 
He  brought  with  him  a  near  and  dear  friend,  Henry  of 
Cologne,  then  canon  of  Utrecht.  "A  man,"  he  says, 
"  whom  I  loved  in  Christ,  with  an  affection  I  never  gave 
to  any  other;  a  vessel  of  perfection  and  honour,  so  that 
I  remember  not  in  all  my  life  to  have  seen  a  more 
gracious  creature."  They  lodged  in  the  same  house,  and 
followed  their  studies  together ;  and  Jordan,  whose  mind 
was  always  full  of  the  thoughts  of  that  vocation  which 


168  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

he  himself  had  not  as  yet  obeyed;  often  spoke  of  it  to  his 
friend,  and  endeavored  to  persuade  him  to  form  a  similar 
determination.  Henry  con »tantly  rejected  the  idea;  Jordan 
as  constantly  persevered  in  his  arguments  and  per- 
suasions. He  has  left  us  an  account  of  the  result,  given 
in  his  most  beautiful  style: — "I  made  him  go  to  Blessed 
Reginald  to  confession,  and  when  he  came  back,  opening 
the  prophet  Isaiah  by  way  of  taking  counsel,  I  fell 
on  the  following  passage: — '  The  Lord  made  me  to  hear 
His  voice,  and  I  did  not  resist  him:  I  went  not  back.' 
And  as  I  interpreted  the  passage,  which  answered  so 
well  to  the  state  of  my  own  heart,  we  saw  a  little 
further  on  the  words,  'Let  us  keep  together/  which,  as 
it  were,  warned  us  not  to  separate  from  one  another,  but 
to  consecrate  our  lives  to  the  same  object."  "Where 
are  now  those  words  'Let  us  keep  together ?'  "  wrote 
Henry  some  years  after,  in  a  letter  to  his  friend.  "  You 
are  at  Bologna,  and  I  at  Cologne!"  But  this  was  the 
Dominican  law  of  dispersion.  A  vision  completed  the 
conquest  of  Henry.  He  saw  Christ  sitting  in  judgment, 
and  one  by  his  side  cried  to  him,  and  said  : — "  You  who 
stand  there,  what  have  you  ever  abandoned  for  God?" 
Filled  with  trouble  at  this  saying,  his  soul  was  torn  by  a 
short  and  agonizing  struggle.  He  desired,  yet  he  could 
not  resolve  on  the  sacrifice.  At  length,  he  sought 
Reginald,  and,  yielding  to  the  powerful  impulse  with 
which  God  was  drawing  his  heart  in  spite  of  himself,  he 
made  his  vows  in  his  hands.  When  he  returned  to 
Jordan,  "I  saw,"  says  the  latter,  "his  angelic  coun- 
tenance bathed  in  tears,  and  I  asked  where  he  had  been ; 
he  answered,  '  I  have  made  a  vow  to  God,  and  I  will 
perform  it.'  "  They  were  both  clothed  together  at  the 
close  of  Lent ;  but  a  singular  revelation  had  pre- 
viously declared  to  Jordan  the  death  of  Reginald,  and 
something  of  his  own  future  destiny  in  the  order.  On 
the  night  that  blessed  man  departed  to  God,  towards  the 
commencement  of  the  month  of  February,  he  saw  in  his 
sleep  a  clear  and  sparkling  fountain  suddenly  spring  up 
in  the  chnrch  of  S.  James,  and  as  suddenly  fail ;  and  as 
he    grieved,    understanding    the  vision    to    predict    the 


DEATH  OF  REGINALD.  169 

untimely  death  of  Reginald,  a  clear  stream  of  water  took 
the  place  of  the  fountain,  and  flowed  on  in  immense 
waves  till  it  filled  the  world.  It  was  a  fit  emblem  of  his 
own  future  career,  so  abundant  in  its  fecundity  that  he 
is  said  to  have  clothed  a  thousand  novices  with  his  own 
hand. 

Among  Reginald's  disciples,  during  his  life  at  Paris, 
may  also  be  mentioned,  Robert  Biliber  Kilward,  an  Eng- 
lishman, who  afterwards  became  archbishop  of  Canterbury 
under  Edward  I.,  and  cardinal  of  the  Roman  Church. 
He  was  reckoned  one  of  the  greatest  theologians  of  his 
age,  as  well  as  a  distinguished  minister  of  state ;  yet  in 
all  his  dignities  he  never  laid  aside  his  religious  dress  or 
character,  made  his  journeys  on  foot,  and  lived  in  the 
utmost  simplicity  of  holy  poverty,  reckoning  his  profession, 
as  a  friar  preacher,  the  greatest  of  all  dignities  lavished  on 
him  by  fortune. 

Reginald's  death  took  place  in  the  early  part  of  the 
March  of  1220.  When  the  physicians  declared  the  hope- 
lessness of  his  case,  Matthew  of  France  came  to  announce 
their  decision  to  him,  and  to  propose  that  he  should 
receive  the  sacrament  of  Extreme  Unction  :  "I  do  not 
fear  the  assault  of  death,"  he  replied,  "since  the  blessed 
hands  of  Mary  herself  anointed  me  at  Rome.  Never- 
theless, because  I  desire  not  to  make  light-  of  the  Church's 
sacraments,  I  will  receive  it,  and  humbly  ask  that  it  may 
be  given  to  me."  His  body  was  laid  in  the  church  of 
Sainte-Marie-des-Champs,  and  though  he  has  never  been 
solemnly  beatified,  the  veneration  which  was  paid  him 
may  be  gathered  from  the  prayers  and  hymns  in  his 
honour  which  may  be  found  in  the  ancient  office-books  of 
the  order.  He  was  undoubtedly  one  of  its  greatest 
men,  to  whom  there  has  hardly  been  done  (sufficient 
justice.  In  him  might  be  seen  the  rare  union  of  human 
genius  and  heroic  sanctity;  and  even  when  the  super- 
natural element  had  taken  possession  of  every  capacity  of 
his  soul,  it  consecrated  them  without  destroying  any  of 
his  fervour  and  richness  of  imagination,  or  the  force  and 
impetuosity  by  which  it  manifested  itself  in  his  preaching, 
and  which  gave  him  such  a  magical  power  over  the  hearts 


170  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

of  his  hearers.  These  dazzling  gifts  once  placed  the  world 
at  his  feet,  but  he  was  happy  above  so  many  of  his  fellowsr 
in  that  he  made  no  other  use  of  its  homage  and  its  smiles 
than  to  offer  them  to  God.  None,  perhaps,  ever  made  a 
nobler  sacrifice,  or  felt  that  it  cost  him  less ;  and  he  may 
stand  to  all  ages  an  example  of  the  rarest  of  all  the 
miracles  of  grace,  a  soul  of  consecrated  genius. 

The  spirit  of  a  saint  may  be  said  to  multiply  itself,  and 
to  survive  in  his  disciples ;  and  in  the  distinctive  graces 
exhibited  to  us  in  them  we  have  another  means  ol 
estimating  the  character  of  their  founder,  besides  what 
is  afforded  us  by  the  study  of  his  own  life.  Or  rather 
we  might  say  the  truest  judgment  will  be  formed  by  a 
comparison  of  the  founder  and  his  disciples;  and  when 
we  find  any  one  trait  of  the  former  caught  up  and 
repeated  over  and  over  again  in  those  who  came  after 
him,  and  whose  supernatural  life  was  formed  on  the 
model  of  his  own,  we  may  safely  conclude  that  the 
similarity  is  no  accident,  but  the  result  of  some  great 
principle  which  had  struck  deep  root  in  his  soul,  and 
spread  its  branches  far  and  wide  over  his  followers. 
Now  if  this  be  so,  we  can  scarcely  fail  to  be  struck 
with  one  peculiarity  in  the  history  of  these  early 
companions  of  Dominic  which  will  surprise  us,  if  we 
have  any  share  in  the  popular  prejudice  which  attaches 
to  his  name.  We  might  have  expected,  along  with 
much  zeal  and  fervour,  to  have  found  some  traces  of 
that  stern  fanaticism  which  is  attributed  to  him  and  his 
order,  betraying  itself  like  a  hereditary  malady  in  the 
ranks  of  the  Friars  Preachers.  But  as  we  search  for 
illustrations  of  bigotry  or  gloom,  or  of  a  fierce  and 
bloody  vindictiveness,  we  lose  ourselves,  as  it  were,  in 
a  garden  of  sweetness.  Gathered  from  all  states  of  life — 
knights,  courtiers,  professors,  men  of  the  world,  peni- 
tents, and  saints — the  novices  of  Dominic,  so  soon  as  his 
spirit  has  breathed  over  them,  display  to  our  gaze  amid 
many  varieties,  one  trait  of  which  has  the  indescribable 
peculiarity  of  a  family  likeness.  It  is  sweetness :  that 
quality  of  which  it  is  said,  in  the  Book  of  Ecclesiasticus, 
"Accomplish  your  works  with  sweetness,  and  you  shall 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF    THE    ORDER.  171 

draw  the  love  and  esteem  of  men."  We  see  it  first  in  the 
great  founder  himself,  of  whom  it  is  said,  "  None  did  ever 
resist  the  charm  of  his  intercourse,  or  went  away  from  him 
without  feeling  himself  the  better."  It  spoke  in  his  low 
sonorous  voice ;  nay,  it  might  be  seen  in  the  very  splendour 
of  his  starry  forehead,  and  in  the  beauty  of  that  counte- 
nance, which  every  one  who  gazed  on  it  described  as  full  of 
joy  and  hilarity.  And  yet,  we  are  told,  he  often  and  easily 
wept,  but  only  when  moved  by  the  sufferings  of  others ; 
nay,  so  tender  was  his  heart  that  he  could  not  think  of 
human  misery  as  he  gazed  over  a  distant  city  without 
being  touched  to  tears. 

This  tenderness  of  spirit  was  the  hereditary  birthright  of 
his  children.  There  was  Reginald  of  Orleans,  winning 
men  to  penance  against  their  will ;  and  Henry  of  Utrecht, 
that  "gracious  creature,"  as  Jordan  calls  him,  with  the 
joy  of  Grod  painted  on  his  angelic  countenance,  and  whose 
voice  breathed  the  odour  of  a  childlike  innocence.  There 
was  Jordan  himself,  whose  simple  bonhomie  of  cha- 
racter is  perhaps  as  delightful  as  any  of  them ;  who  could 
tranquillize  disturbed  consciences  by  a  look,  who  was 
severe  only  to  those  who  were  severe  to  others,  and  whom 
we  find  taming  and  playing  with  the  wild  ferrets  on 
the  road  as  he  journeyed,  in  the  overflowing  tenderness 
and  kindness  of  his  heart.  Of  another  we  read,  that  as 
he  prayed  in  the  garden,  his  looks  were  so  gentle,  that 
timid  birds  would  come  and  perch  on  his  outstretched 
arms.  And  whole  volumes  might  be  written  of  their 
deaths.  Of  numbers  it  is  related  that  they  died  singing. 
In  the  convent  of  Vincenza  we  find  a  brother  who,  after 
"singing  versicles  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  with  wondrous 
delightsomeness,  signed  to  his  companion  to  rejoice  also 
with  him,  saying,  'Brother,  do  not  think  it  strange,  but 
it  is  impossible  for  me  not  to  sing  of  the  love  of  Mary.' 
Then  after  a  while  he  opened  his  eyes  again,  and  said 
oftentimes  with  much  jubilation,  'Let  everything  that 
hath  breath  praise  the  Lord ;'  and  so,  with  a  smile, 
expired."  Father  William  of  Anicy,  as  he  lay  dying, 
was  visited  by  the  angels,  who  visibly  appeared  to  the 
bystanders;    and   one   of  them   bent   over   his   bed   and 


172  LIFE    OF    S.    DOMINIC. 

kissed  his  rorehead,  a  grace  he  had  deserved  by  hi3 
angelic  life  and  conversation.  There  was  John  of  Gas- 
cony,  a  a  very  marvel  of  sanctity,  who,  like  the  swan, 
sang  as  he  was  a-dying;  sweetly  repeating  with  his  last 
breath,  '  Into  Thy  hands,  0  Lord,  I  commend  my  spirit. 
Alleluia !  For  Thou  hast  redeemed  me  0  God  of  truth ! 
Alleluia !  Alleluia ! '  "  Then  again  we  find  other  stories 
of  their  special  earnestness  in  the  work  of  peace.  F.  Ro- 
baldo,  for  instance,  seemed  to  have  a  vocation  for  the 
healing  of  quarrels  and  feuds.  He  worked  miracles  to 
make  men  forgive  one  another ;  but  perhaps  his  own 
angelic  temper  had  a  greater  magic  in  it  than  his 
miracles.  A  young  Milanese  noble  had  been  slain  by 
his  feudal  enemy,  and  the  two  surviving  brothers  had 
vowed  revenge.  Robaldo,  after  having  in  vain  en- 
deavoured to  appease  one  of  them,  took  him  by  the 
hand  and  commanded  him  not  to  move  till  he  had 
promised  peace.  He  instantly  lost  the  power  of  motion, 
and  whilst  he  stood  thus  his  other  brother  came  to  the 
spot,  uttering  curses  and  imprecations,  and  binding  him- 
self by  oaths  never  to  rest  till  he  had  steeped  his  sword 
in  the  blood  of  the  murderer.  And  yet  neither  of  them 
could  resist  the  sweetness  of  Robaldo,  and  it  ended  by 
his  sending  them  to  the  house  of  their  enemy  to  dine 
with  him,  and  bringing  all  three  next  day  to  the  consent 
church,  to  bury  all  their  differences  at  the  foot  of  the 
altar.  Then  there  was  our  own  Lawrence;  called  blessed 
because  of  his  blessed  temper,  and  known  through  Spain 
and  France  as  the  reconciler  of  enemies."  In  short,  turn 
where  we  will,  we  find  the  feet  of  these  true  preachers 
"shod  with  the  preparation  of  the  gospel  of  peace." 
They  were  all  shaped  after  one  likeness,  even  that  of 
their  holy  patriarch :  "  benign,  merciful,  patient,  and  sober, 
not  giving  cursing  for  cursing,  but  rather  blessing 
those  that  cursed."  Such  are  the  words  of  Bonviso  of 
Placentia. 

These  we  repeat  were  no  fanatics;  the  pages  of  our 
own  history  will  furnish  us,  in  the  followers  of  Cromwell, 
or  Argyle,*  with  a  portrait  of  fanaticism  never  to  be 
found  among  these  Friars  Preachers ;  and  when  we  have 


JOURNEYS   THROUGH  ITALY.  173 

been  compelled  to  grant  them  the  character  of  saints,  it  will 
perhaps  startle  us  to  know  that  many  of  these  very  men 
bore  also  the  dreaded  title  of  Inquisitors. 

We  must  not  close  this  chapter  without  noticing  the 
foundation  at  Bologna  of  a  convent  of  women,  which  was 
begun  through  the  means  of  Diana  of  Andala,  one  of 
S.  Dominic's  spiritual  daughters.  Her  extraordinary 
constancy  and  resolution  overcame  all  the  obstacles 
opposed  by  her  friends;  and  eventually  her  own  father 
became  one  of  the  most  liberal  supporters  of  the  new 
house.  Cecilia  and  Amy,  the  two  sisters  of  S.  Sixtus 
before  named,  were  removed  from  thence  to  Bologna  in 
1223,  and  all  three  lie  buried  in  the  same  grave,  where 
their  remains  have  been  twice  discovered,  and  honourably 
translated. 


— <un — 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


Dominic  journeys  through  Italy ;  and  returns  to  Home  for  the 
fifth  time.  Increase  of  the  Order.  Character  of  the  first 
fathers.  Interview  with  S.  Francis.  Favours  of  the  Holy 
See 

After  Reginald's  departure  from  Bologna,  Dominic 
remained  a  while  in  the  place,  chiefly  occupied  in  quiet- 
ing the  dissensions  among  the  inhabitants  which  arose 
from  the  jealousy  subsisting  between  the  nobles  and  the 
citizens.  Nor  were  his  efforts  unavailing:  the  Bolognese 
recognized  him  as  their  mediator  of  peace,  and  this  was 
the  first  origin  of  that  singular  affection  with  which  he 
was  ever  afterwards  regarded  in  the  city.  Their  confi- 
dence in  him  was  increased  by  their  conviction  of  his 
entire  disinterestedness  in  the  whole  matter;  for  when 
their  gratitude  sought  to  show  itself  by  gifts  and  donations, 
he  constantly  and  inflexibly  refused  to  receive  the  smallest 


174  LIFE   OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

offering  beyond  the  pittance  of  daily  alms  which  was 
hogged  from  door  to  door.  Indeed,  his  rigid  regard  of 
poverty  was  in  no  degree  inferior  to  that  observed  by 
S.  Francis:  if  there  was  food  enough  in  the  convent  to 
suffice  for  the  day,  he  never  allowed  more  alms  to  be 
received  for  the  next  day ;  and  very  often  he  himself 
would  undertake  the  office  of  begging  in  the  streets,  which 
he  practised  with  a  peculiar  pleasure.  He  left  Bologna  in 
the  October  of  the  same  year,  and,  crossing  the  Appennines, 
proceeded  to  Florence,  whither  some  of  the  brethren  had 
already  been  despatched,  and  had  commenced  their 
foundation.  Here  again  the  malice  of  the  devil  was 
overcome  and  made  the  means  of  extending  the  order. 
A  woman  named  Benita,  who  had  been  grievously  tor- 
mented by  the  evil  spirit,  and  had  led  an  irregular  and 
irreligious  life,  being  converted,  and  delivered  from  her 
possession,  by  the  prayers  of  Dominic,  took  the  veil, 
and  the  name  of  Sister  Benedicta.  From  Florence,  he 
came  to  Viterbo  where  the  Pope  was  then  staying,  who 
received  him  with  open  arms.  The  recital  of  the  progress 
which  he  and  his  brethren  had  made,  since  his  departure 
from  Borne,  filled  the  Pontiff  with  delight.  He  testified 
his  renewed  affection  and  esteem  by  briefs,  addressed 
to  the  prelates  and  ecclesiastical  superiors  throughout 
all  the  countries  of  Christendom,  recommending  the  order 
of  Friars  Preachers  to  their  protection  and  respect.  These 
briefs  are  dated  the  November  and  December  of  1219. 

Soon  after  their  publication,  Dominic  returned  for  the 
fifth  time  to  Rome,  where  he  arrived  in  the  commence- 
ment of  the  year  1220.  A  trifling  circumstance  is 
recorded,  connected  with  his  return,  which  may  seem 
scarce  worthy  of  notice,  and  yet  discloses  to  us  whole 
volumes  of  the  character  and  disposition  of  this  great 
man.  He  had  brought  with  him,  we  are  told,  from  Spain, 
certain  spoons  of  cypress-wood  for  the  nuns  of  S.  Sixtus. 
Sister  Cecilia  thus  describes  this  beautiful  little  incident : 
"  Upon  a  certain  time  S.  Dominic,  returning  from  Spain, 
brought  the  sisters,  as  an  affectionate  little  gift,  some 
spoons  of  cypress,  for  every  sister  one.  And  upon  a  day, 
having  finished  his  preaching  and  other  works  of  charity, 


FERVOUR   OP   THE   NOVICES.  175 

in  the  same  evening  he  came  to  the  sisters,  that  he  might 
Relive/  to  them  these  spoons  from  Spain."  Amid  all  his 
journeys  and  fatigues,  he  had  time  and  room  enough  in 
his  heart  for  so  simple  a  thought  as  this;  and  the  com- 
fort and  pleasure  of  his  children  was  still  present  to  his 
mind.  One  of  those  spoons,  carried  over  the  hills  of 
Spain  and  Italy  in  the  little  bundle  of  the  saint,  during 
the  long  foot-journeys  of  so  many  months,  was  surely  a 
precious  relic. 

He  was  soon  busy  in  his  old  quarters  at  Santa  Sabina 
and  hard  at  work  again,  preaehing  to  the  Roman  people. 
A  great  number  of  miracles  and  miraculous  conversions 
are  recorded  as  taking  place  at  this  time;  and  many  of 
them  we  find  spoken  of  as  effected  through  the  instrumen- 
tality of  the  Rosary.  The  stream  of  novices  continued 
to  flow  as  abundantly  as  ever  into  the  cells  of  Santa 
Sabina,  and  the  care  of  the  saint  was  bestowed  on  them 
with  all  his  usual  vigilance  and  tenderness.  Their  fervour, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  Theodoric  of  Apoldia,  was 
truly  admirable.  «  When  they  looked  on  the  beauty  and 
purity  of  their  institute,"  he  says,  "  all  their  regret  was 
not  sooner  to  have  embraced  it."  A  great  care  was  ever 
taken  of  the  novices,  both  as  to  their  instruction  and  their 
health,  for  their  zeal  always  had  to  be  moderated.  Instead 
of  its  being  necessary  to  wake  them  for  the  midnight  office, 
it  was  rather  needful  to  seek  for  them  in  retired  places, 
where  they  had  hidden  themselves  to  pray,  and  oblige  them 
to  take  some  rest.  The  abstinence  they  practised  was 
remarkable;  many  passed  eight  days  without  drinking, 
and  mixed  their  food  with  cold  water.  They  ever  looked 
on  preaching  for  the  salvation  of  souls  as  the  essential 
part  of  their  institute.  When  they  went  to  preach, 
according  to  Dominic's  direction,  they  took  with  them 
only  the  Bible  or  the  New  Testament.  When  it  was 
proposed  to  send  missions  among  the  barbarian  nations, 
or  wheresoever  there  was  a  certainty  of  suffering  crowds 
offered  themselves  for  the  service;  they  had"  a  holy 
eagerness  for  the  salvation  of  souls  and  the  chance  of  a 
crown  of  martyrdom 

It  was  at  this   time,  according  to  the    most   prohable 


176  LIFE   OP    S.    DOMINIC. 

conjecture  of  historians,  that  the  interview  took  place 
between  Dominic  and  Francis,  in  the  palace  of  Cardinal 
Ugolino,  which  the  Franciscan  writers  give  as  occurring 
at  Perugia,  in  the  year  1219.  After  a  spiritual  con- 
ference of  some  duration,  the  cardinal  asked  them  whether 
they  would  agree  to  their  disciples  accepting  ecclesiastical 
dignities.  Dominic  was  the  first  to  reply :  he  said  that  it 
wan  honour  sufficient  for  his  brethren  to  be  called  to  defend 
the  faith  against  heretics.  The  words  of  S.  Francis  were 
equally  characteristic  ."  My  children,"  he  said,  "  would  no 
longer  be  Friars  Minors  if  they  became  great ;  if  you 
would  have  them  bring  forth  fruit,  leave  them  as  they  are." 
Edified  by  their  replies,  Ugolino  did  not,  however,  aban- 
don his  own  views ;  when  he  was  elevated  to  the  papacy,  he 
promoted  a  great  number  of  both  orders  to  the  episcopate, 
as  many  as  forty-two  of  whom  were  of  the  order  of  Friars 
Preachers. 

We  shall  not  pause  to  notice  at  any  length  the  re- 
newed favours  of  the  Holy  See,  so  liberally  poured  out  in 
the  shape  of  briefs  and  letters  at  this  period,  one  of  which, 
published  in  the  commencement  of  this  year,  constituted 
Dominic  the  Superior  or  Master-General  of  the  entire 
order  ;  an  office  he  had  hitherto  only  held  by  tacit  consent, 
and  which  was  doubtless  formally  given  him  at  this  time 
with  a  view  to  the  assembling  of  the  brethren  in  the  first 
general  chapter,  which  was  now  in  contemplation. 
Whilst  the  preparations  for  this  event  were  in  hand,  the 
friars  were  every  day  making  further  advances  in  Lom- 
bardy,  and  the  great  convent  of  S.  Eustorgia  was  founded 
at  Milan.  The  church  had  been  granted  to  the  order 
through  the  intervention  of  Cardinal  Ugolino;  and  be- 
fore their  coming,  a  certain  hermit  had  been  wont  to 
declare  to  the  people,  saying,  "  Before  long  this  church 
will  be  inhabited  by  friars  called  Preachers,  who  shall 
give  light  to  the  whole  world;  for  every  night  I  see 
bright  lamps  shining  over  it  which  illuminate  the  entire 
city."  The  canons  also  heard  the  sweet  music  of  angelio 
choirs  singing  round  the  walls,  and  a  great  devotion  had 
attached  to  the  sanctuary  in  consequence.  This  convent 
became  the  head-quarters  of  the  order  of  Lombardy,  and 


RAPID   INCREASE    OP    THE    ORDER.  177 


it  was  ever  foremost  ia  its  attacks  on  the  heretics  of  the 
day. 

The  general  chapter  had  been  fixed  for  the  Pentecost  of 
1220,  just  three  years  from  what  may  be  deemed  the  com- 
mencement of  the  order.  Its  astonishing  progress  in  that 
brief  period  seems  to  our  eyes  truly  miraculous ;  perhaps 
the  coldness  of  later  days,  could  they  have  beheld  it  in 
vision,  might  have  seemed  as  hard  of  credit  or  comprehen- 
sion to  the  men  of  that  heroic  era.  To  ourselves  the  com- 
parison can  bring  nothing  but  humiliation,  whilst  we 
contemplate  a  vigour,  and,  if  we  may  so  say,  an  impe- 
tuosity, in  the  religious  life  of  those  days,  which  seems 
like  the  giant  verdure  of  the  forests  of  the  New  World 
beside  our  own  stunted  and  degenerate  growth.  And  what 
is  perhaps  as  worthy  of  our  admiration,  is  the  simplicity 
and  unconsciousness  with  which  the  facts  of  this  extra- 
ordinary progress  are  given  to  us  ;  we  scarcely  find  a  word, 
among  those  who  were  the  eye-witnesses  of  what  had  been 
going  on  during  those  three  years,  expressive  of  any  sense 
of  success.  The  work  was  the  work  of  God,  and  for  their 
own  share  in  it,  each  one,  with  a  sincere  humility,  could 
have  joined  in  the  words  of  their  holy  founder,  as  he  stood 
in  the  midst  of. that  first  assembly  of  his  children:  "I 
deserve  only  to  be  dismissed  from  among  you,  for  I  have 
grown  cold  and  relaxed,  and  am  no  longer  of  any  use/' 


N 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

First  general  Chapter  at  Bologna.  Law  of  poverty.  The  Order 
spreads  through  Europe.  Dominic's  illness  at  Milan.  Yisit  to 
Siena.  Tancred,  Apostolic  journeys  through  Italy.  Keturn 
to  Bologna,  and  conversion  of  Master  Conrad.  John  of  Vicenza. 
Anecdotes. 

It  was  on  the  27th  of  May  that  the  fathers  of  the 
order  met  in  the  convent  of  S.  Nicholas  at  Bologna. 
Jordan  of  Saxony,  who  has  left  an  account  of  their 
proceedings,  was  himself  present,  having  come  from  Paris 
three  weeks  before.  But  so  little  was  there  among  any 
of  them  of  a  desire  to  seem  great  in  men's  eyes,  that 
very  few  details  have  been  left  regarding  it,  and  many 
things  are  passed  over  in  silence  which  would  have  been 
interesting  to  know.  The  number  of  friars  present  at  the 
first  chapter  of  his  order  held  by  Francis  have  been  care- 
fully preserved ;  but  no  similar  reckoning  was  made  of 
the  Friars  Preachers :  we  know  only  that  France,  Spain, 
Italy,  and  even  Poland,  had  their  representatives  in  that 
assembly.  Dominic  was  then  fifty  years  of  age,  having 
lost  nothing  of  that  manly  vigour  of  mind  and  body 
which  ever  distinguished  him  :  if  we  seek  amid  the 
scanty  materials  which  history  has  left  us,  to  find  some 
token  which  may  reveal  to  us  the  secret  feelings  of  his 
heart  at  a  moment  so  deep  in  its  interest,  we  shall  find 
that  power,  and  success,  and  a  government  over  other 
men  which  gave  him  a  personal  empire  of  souls  extend- 
ing over  half  Christendom,  had  produced  no  change  in 
the  simplicity  and  humility  of  his  heart.  It  tended 
Godward  as  it  had  ever  done;  and  his  first  act  was  to 
implore  permission  to  renounce  a  superiority  of  which 
he  accounted  himself  unworthy.  Some,  perhaps,  may  be 
tempted  to  look  on  this  as  an  easily  assumed  modesty, 
and  to  doubt  how  far  he  hoped  or  expected  his  resigna- 
tion  would   be   accepted.     But   the   evidence   of  blessed 


LAW   OF    POVERTY.  179 

Paul  of  Venice  shows  that  even  at  this  time  the  darling 
hope  of  his  soul  had  never  been  abandoned  ;  he  still 
cherished  the  thought,  so  soon  as  the  order  was  firmly 
established  of  carrying  the  light  of  the  Gospel  among 
the  heathen.  "  When  we  shall  have  fully  instructed  our 
order,"  he  was  wont  to  say,  "  we  will  go  to  the  Cumans 
and  preach  the  faith  of  Christ ;  and,  doubtless,  this  secret 
and  deeply-rooted  idea  was  in  his  mind  when  he  made 
the  effort  to  rid  himself  of  the  government  of  his  order. 

It  is  needless  for  us  to  say  this  resignation  was  unanim- 
ously rejected,  and  Dominic  was  compelled  to  retain  an 
authority  none  other  could  have  accepted  in  his  lifetime. 
Yet  he  made  it  a  condition,  that  his  power  should  be  limited 
and  controlled  by  the  appointment  of  definitors  whose  office 
extended  over  all  the  acts  of  the  chapter,  and  even  to  the 
correction  and  punishment  of  the  Master  himself,  in  case  of 


Many  of  the  laws,  still  forming  part  of  the  consti- 
tutions of  the  order,  were  now  established — those  relating 
to  abstinence  and  fasting,  and  many  regarding  the  titles 
and  authority  of  the  local  superiors.  But  the  principal 
object  of  this  chapter  was  the  entire  adoption  of  the  rule 
of  poverty,  which  had  not  been  formally  laid  down  by 
any  statute.  A  renunciation  was  made  of  all  lands  and 
possessions  until  then  retained,  and  it  was  resolved  that 
nothing  should  be  accepted  in  future  save  the  daily  alms 
on  whieh  they  depended  for  support.  The  property  of 
the  monasteries  of  Toulouse  and  Madrid  was  respectively 
made  over  to  the  convents  of  women ;  and  the  order  was 
reduced  to  the  severity  of  the  apostolic  standard.  If  in 
the  revolution  of  six  centuries  the  change  which  has 
passed  over  the  whole  surface  of  society  has  necessitated 
a  repeal  of  what,  at  the  time,  seemed  a  fundamental 
law,  it  need  neither  scandalize  nor  surprise  us.  Dear  as 
was  the  rule  of  poverty  to  Dominic's  heart,  he  never  put 
it  forth  as  the  end  of  his  order :  he  judged  it  but  a 
means,  and  at  that  age  a  chief  and  essential  means,  for 
the  one  unchanging  object  of  the  institute  of  Preachers, 
the  salvation  of  souls.  And  when  the  living  authority 
of  the  Church  in  a  later  day  dispensed  the  observance  of 
n  2 


180  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

the  letter  of  a  rule  no  longer  adapted  to  that  object,  she 
•  adhered  strictly  to  the  spirit,  and  explained  the  principle 
on  which  this  change  was  made  in  words*  so  luminous  and 
conclusive  that  they  leave  nothing  to  be  added  on  the  sub- 
ject. Dominic  was  anxious  to  provide  for  the  preservation 
of  another  essential  of  his  institute,  the  pursuit  of  sacred 
learning;  and  for  this  purpose  proposed  that  all  the 
temporal  affairs  of  the  convent  should  be  left  in  the 
hands  of  the  lay  brothers,  so  as  to  set  the  others  entirely 
at  liberty  for  the  purposes  of  prayer  and  study.  This  was 
overruled  by  the  other  fathers,  experience  having  shown 
the  danger  of  this  custom  in  other  orders ;  and  Dominic 
did  not  press  the  proposal.  Some  regulations  were  added 
about  the  cells,  in  respect  to  size  and  arrangement,  and 
it  was  ordered  that  a  crucifix  and  an  image  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  should  be  in  each.  The  chapter  was 
to  be  held  yearly,  at  Paris  and  Bologna  in  turn:  this 
regulation  was  afterwards  done  away,  as  the  extension  of 
the  order  rendered  so  frequent  an  assembly  impossible, 
and  made  it  desirable  to  fix  it  at  other  cities  according  to 
circumstances.  The  arrangement  was  made  at  this  time 
in  consequence  of  the  neighbourhood  of  the  two  univer- 
sities, a  connection  with  which  was  held  to  be  of  the  first 
importance. 

We  do  not  know  what  length  of  time  was  taken  up 
by  the  proceedings  of  the  chapter;  but  we  find  that 
early  in  the  summer  Dominic's  attention  was  once  more 
wholly  given  to  the  foundation  and  settlement  of  new 
convents.  Brethren  were  sent  also  to  Morocco  and 
several  of  the  infidel  countries,  as  well  as  to  Scotland, 
as  some  historians  tell  us.  Luke,  bishop  of  Galicia, 
speaking  of  this  period,  says,  "At  that  time  one  saw 
nothing  but  foundations  of  the  Friars  Preachers  and 
Friars  Minors  springing  up  everywhere ;  and  wherever 
heresy  appeared,  the  children  of  Dominic,"  he  adds, 
"  were  at  hand  to  combat  and  subdue  it."  The  Ghi- 
beline  influence  of  the  German  Emperors  was   doubtless 

*  See  Const.  F.  Praed,  d.  ii.  c.  1 ;  where  the  principles  of  religions 
poverty  as  professed  by  the  order  are  laid  down  with  great  exact- 


TANCRED   OF   SIENA.  181 

a  chief  cause  of  that  heretical  tendency  so  widely  diffused 
in  the  north  of  Italy,  and  there  Dominic's  chief  efforts 
were  directed.  His  residence  at  Bologna  was  constantly 
broken  by  excursions  to  the  various  cities  of  Lombardy, 
though  we  have  no  certain  guide  as  to  the  exact  order  in 
which  these  visits  were  made.  We  find  him  again  at 
Milan,  in  company  with  Brother  Bonviso,  in  the  course 
of  the  summer,  and  here  he  was  again  taken  ill.  Bonviso 
has  left  an  account  of  this  illness,  and  remarks  upon  the 
patience  and  cheerfulness  he  displayed  in  the  extremity 
of  fever:  "I  never  had  reason  to  complain  of  him"  (he 
says);  "he  seemed  always  in  prayer  and  contemplation, 
to  judge  from  his  countenance ;  and  so  soon  as  the  fever 
subsided,  he  began  to  speak  to  the  brethren  of  God ;  he 
praised  God  and  rejoiced  in  his  sufferings,  as  was  his 
custom."  He  caused  them  to  read  to  him,  as  he  lay  on 
his  rough  wooden  bed,  those  Dialogues  of  Cassian  and 
the  Epistles  of  S.  Paul,  which  had  ever  been  his  favourite 
books  ;  and  we  feel  that  it  is  not  fanciful  to  detect  in  this 
persevering  attachment  a  token  of  that  tranquil  stability 
of  mind,  which  formed  so  distinctive  a  peculiarity  of  his 
nature. 

It  would  be  scarcely  interesting  to  the  reader  to  be 
detained  with  the  mere  names  of  foundations,  or  of  the 
new  disciples  daily  admitted  to  the  order.  We  shall 
endeavour  to  select  a  few  among  those  which  may  be 
most  worthy  of  our  notice.  The  date  of  Dominic's  visit 
to  Siena  has  not  been  exactly  preserved,  though  it  may 
probably  be  referred  to  the  present  year.  As  he  preached 
in  one  of  the  churches  of  that  city,  Tancredo  Tancredi,  a 
young  noble  of  high  birth  and  renown  for  learning,  stood 
amid  the  crowd.  As  he  listened  and  gazed  at  the  cele- 
brated preacher,  he  saw  another  figure  standing  beside 
him  in  the  pulpit,  and  whispering  in  his  ear  :  it  was  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  who  was  inspiring  the  words  of  her 
faithful  servant.  The  sight  filled  Tancred  with  ad- 
miration, but  as  the  saint  descended  the  pulpit-stairs, 
that  same  glorious  vision  of  Mary  floated  nearer  and 
nearer  to  the  spot  where  he  stood.  It  pointed  with  its 
Jiand  to  the  figure  of  the  Preacher,  and  a  low  sweet  voice 


182  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

uttered  in  his  ear,  "  Tancred,  follow  after  that  man,  and 
do  not  depart  from  him."  From  that  time  Tancred  became 
what  he  had  been  so  sweetly  called  to  be,  a  close  and 
faithful  follower  of  his  great  master.  Many  very  beauti- 
ful records  are  left  us  of  his  life.  He  had  a  strange 
familiarity  with  the  angels,  who  stood  by  him  as  he 
prayed.  Once,  as  he  was  earnestly  interceding  in  prayer 
for  an  obstinate  sinner,  the  angelic  friend  beside  him 
whispered,  "  Tancred,  your  prayer  for  that  soul  will  be 
in  vain."  But  the  zeal  and  charity  of  this  true  Friar 
Preacher  was  not  to  be  checked  even  by  such  a  word  as 
this  ;  he  only  prayed  the  harder,  as  though  he  would  be 
heard ;  and,  lo  !  three  days  after,  he  saw  the  soul  for 
whom  he  laboured  flying  up  safe  to  heaven.  We  can. 
scarce  find  a  more  beautiful  or  instructive  anecdote  of 
the  might  of  prayer  than  this. 

Immense  numbers  of  all  ranks  were  attracted  by  the 
ever-increasing  fame  of  the  new  institute  ;  many  were 
men  of  learning  and  sanctity,  many  doubtless  very 
imperfect  and  uninstructed  ;  yet  we  are  told  S.  Dominic 
did  not  hesitate  to  employ  the  latter  equally  with  the 
former  in  the  work  of  teaching,  in  the  firm  conviction 
that,  when  so  engaged,  God  would  speak  by  flicm  as 
readily  as  by  those  better  fitted,  according  to  human 
judgment,  for  the  task ;  and  also,  as  it  would  seem, 
because  such  work  formed  a  part  of  his  method  of  train- 
ing them.  This  labour  of  training  went  on  incessantly, 
for  it  was  his  own  hand  that  formed  and  directed  all  of 
those  new  disciples.  We  can  scarcely  estimate  aright 
the  prodigious  labour  which  he  assigned  himself ;  we  see 
him,  as  it  were,  in  every  city  of  Italy  ;  and  we  find  him 
in  the  same  year  busy  at  this  engrossing  work  at 
Bologna,  which  was  now  his  head-quarters  ;  and  never 
did  he  relax,  for  all  his  engagements,  that  public  office  of 
preaching  tc  which  he  held  himself  so  solemnly  bound. 
Very  strange  must  have  been  the  scenes  which  were  often 
witnessed  in  the  churches  where  those  discourses  were 
delivered.  Every  day.  and  sometimes  more  than  once,  he 
preached  whilst  at  Bologna.  The  people  crowded  round 
his  pulpit,  and  often  the  multitude  were  forced  to  adjourn 


JOURNEYS   THROUGH   ITALY.  183 

to  the  open  air.  They  followed  him  afterwards  to  his 
convent-door  that  they  might  still  gaze  at  him,  or  speak 
with  him.  On  one  of  these  occasions  two  young  students 
addressed  him,  and  one  said,  "  Father,  I  am  just  come 
from  confession  ;  I  pray  you  obtain  from  God  the  pardon 
of  my  sins."  The  saint,  after  a  moment's  thought, 
replied,  "  Have  confidence,  my  son,  for  your  sins  are 
already  pardoned."  Then  the  other  made  the  game 
request,  but  the  answer  was  different :  "  Thou  fcast  not 
confessed  all,"  said  Dominic ;  and  the  young  man,  enter- 
ing into  himself,  discovered  indeed  a  secret  sin  which  had 
escaped  his  momory. 

On  another  occasion,  he  had  been  preaching  in  one  of 
the  public  places  of  the  city,  when,  the  sermon  being 
ended,  a  nobleman,  the  governor  of  S.  Severino,  who  had 
been  among  the  audience,  pushed  his  way  through  the 
crowd,  and  waited  on  his  knees  to  receive  his  blessing  as 
he  came  down  from  his  pulpit.  Nor  did  his  admiration 
end  here ;  that  one  sermon  had  gained  for  the  order  the 
grant  of  a  church  and  convent,  and  established  the  Friars 
Preachers  in  the  marches  of  Ancona. 

Every  part  of  the  country  between  the  Alps  and  the 
Appennines  was  trodden  by  the  unwearied  feet  of  this 
great  apostle.  At  Cremona  he  met  once  more  his 
friend  and  fellow-labourer  S.  Francis,  who  was  there, 
together  with  his  spiritual  daughter  S.  Clare.  The 
three  saints  lodged  in  the  same  house,  and  an  anecdote 
of  their  meeting  has  been  preserved.  The  water  of  a  well 
belonging  to  the  house  had  become  unfit  for  use,  and  the 
people  of  the  place,  bringing  some  of  it  in  a  vase,  begged 
one  of  the  two  saints  to  bless  it  that  it  might  recover  its 
sweetness.  A  graceful  contest  arose,  each  wishing  the 
other  to  undertake  the  miracle,  but  the  humility  of 
Francis  conquered.  Dominic  blessed  the  water,  which 
was  immediately  restored  to  its  clearness  and  sweet 
savour.* 


*  Such  of  our  readers  as  are  familiar  with  the  Franciscan  his- 
torians will  doubtless  be  surprised  at  the  omission  in  these  pages 
of  many  other  interviews  between  the  two  great  patriarchs,  noticed 
ty  those  writers  ;  but  although   far  from  wishing  to  decide  on 


184  LIFE    OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

In  the  course  of  his  wanderings,  Dominic  found  him- 
self one  night  before  the  gates  of  S.  Colomba,  a  Cister- 
cian house,  but  the  hour  was  late,  and  he  would  not 
disturb  the  inmates.  "Let  us  lie  down  here,"  he  said 
to  his  companion,  "and  pray  to  God,  who  will  surely 
care  for  us."  They  did  so,  and  both  immediately  found 
themselves  transported  to  the  interior  of  the  convent. 
Thus  we  see  it  was  ever  with  the  same  simplicity  that 
Dominic  journeyed  ;  it  was  the  poor  mendicant  friar, 
with  his  wallet  on  his  back,  and  nothing  save  the  light 
that  gleamed  on  his  noble  forehead  to  distinguish  him 
from  other  men,  who  went  barefoot  up  and  down  the 
hills  and  valleys  of  Italy,  where  we  may  now  mark  the 
magnificent  foundations  of  S.  Eustorgio  of  Milan,  or 
SS.  John  and  Paul  of  Venice,  and  that  other  convent 
which  lies  amid  the  wooded  hills  of  Como,  and  a  thousand 
others,  all  nurseries  of  saints. 

The  festival  of  the  Assumption  saw  him  once  more 
at  Bologna,  where,  on  his  return,  he  found  matter  for 
both  sorrow  and  displeasure  ;  for  Rodolph  of  Faenza, 
the  procurator  of  the  convent,  had  in  his  absence  made 
some  additions  to  the  buildiug  which  the  saint  judged 
inconsistent  with  the  profession  of  holy  poverty.  Before 
his  departure  he  had  himself  left  directions  for  the  pro- 
posed alterations,  and  even  a  kind  of  plan  or  model  to 
insure  the  preservation  of  that  rigorous  observance  of 
poverty  which  was  so  dear  to  him,  and  which  he  conceived 
to  be  the  indispensable  condition  of  religion.  He  gazed 
at  the  new  building  with  tears  flowing  down  his  cheeks. 
"  Will  you  build  palaces  whilst  I  am  yet  living,"  he  said, 
"  after  such  a  fashion  as  this  ?  Know  then  that  if  you 
do,  you  will  bring  ruin  on  the  order  ;  you  have  pierced 
my  very  heart."  Such  words  did  indeed  pierce  the 
hearts  of  those  who  listened  ;  and  during  the  remainder 
of  his  life  none  dared  speak  of  finishing  the  building,  on 
which  not  another  stone  was  laid.     And  yet  the  cells  ho 

theso  as  being  wholly  fictitious,  we  feel  ourselves  obliged  to  pass 
them  over  iu  silence,  as  they  are  not  given  by  Dominican  author- 
ities, and  are  often  difficult  to  reconcile  with  the  chronology  of  tho 
order. 


JOHN    OF   VICENZA.  185 

found  so  luxurious  and  unsuitable  were  after  all  but 
poor  and  narrow,  and  not  much  superior  to  those  which 
had  been  before  erected.  How  rigid  indeed  was  the 
poverty  and  humility  of  the  structure,  we  may  judge  from 
another  circumstance  which  occurred  about  this  time. 
S.  Francis  also  came  to  Bologna  on  a  visit  to  the  religious 
of  his  order  recently  established  in  the  city,  but  when  he 
found  them  living  in  a  large  and  spacious  house,  he  was  so 
indignant  that  he  ordered  them  every  one  to  quit  it,  and 
he  himself  took  up  his  dwelling  in  the  convent  of  the 
Friars  Preachers,  "which,"  says  Father  Candidus  Cha- 
lippus,  "he  found  more  to  his  taste,  and  where  he  passed 
some  days  with  his  friend  S.  Dominie." 

Shortly  after  the  return  of  the  latter  to  Bologna,  a 
remarkable  addition  was  made  to  the  number  of  his  dis- 
ciples, in  the  person  of  Conrad  the  German.  He  was  a 
professor  of  the  university,  whom  the  brethren  had  long 
ardently  desired  to  have  amongst  them.  On  the  evening 
of  the  Assumption  Dominic  was  in  familiar  conversation 
with  a  certain  Cistercian  prior,  and  said  to  him,  "Prior,  I 
will  tell  you  a  thing,  which  you  must  keep  secret  till  my 
death.  Never  have  I  asked  anything  from  God,  but  He 
has  granted  it  to  me."  "  Then,  father,"  said  the  prior, 
"I  marvel  that  you  do  not  ask  the  vocation  of  Master 
Conrad,  whom  the  brethren  desire  so  greatly  to  have 
among  them."  "  The  thing  is  difficult, "  answered 
Dominic;  "nevertheless,  if  you  will  pray  with  me  this 
night,  I  doubt  not  God  will  incline  to  our  request." 
That  night  the  prior  kept  watch  in  the  church  by  his 
friend's  side ;  and  at  the  hour  of  prime,  as  they  intoned 
the  hymn,  Jam  lucis  orto  sidere,  Conrad  entered  the 
choir,  and  demanded  the  habit  from  the  hands  of  the 
saint. 

Another  of  the  disciples  of  this  year  was  John  of 
Vicenza,  who  deserves  a  more  particular  notice.  Martin 
Schio,  his  father,  intended  him  for  the  law,  and  sent  him 
with  this  intention  to  Padua,  then  the  great  legal  univer- 
sity. There,  however,  a  more  sublime  vocation  awaited 
him.  Dominic  passed  through  the  city,  and  no  church  in 
the   place   being  large   enough   to  hold  the   crowds   who 


186  LIFE   OP   S.   DOMINIC. 

flocked  to  hear  him,  he  preached  in  the  great  piazza 
known  as  the  Piazza  della  Valle;  John  was  there,  and 
that  day's  preaching  put  all  thoughts  of  law  out  of  his 
head.  As  soon  as  the  sermon  was  ended,  he  went  to  find 
the  preacher,  and  begged  to  be  instantly  admitted  among 
his  followers,  and  to  receive  the  habit  of  his  order.  He 
made  his  noviciate  at  Bologna,  but  afterwards  returned  to 
the  convent  of  Padua,  where  he  became  one  of  the  most 
famous  preachers  of  his  time.  He  was  called  the  apostle 
of  Lombardy,  and  indeed  Lombardy  needed  an  apostle  in 
those  unhappy  days,  torn  as  it  was  by  the  wars,  and 
desolated  by  the  cruelties,  of  Frederick  II.  and  the  tyrant 
Ezzelino.  John  was  a  preacher  of  peace  amid  all  the 
terrible  calamities  of  those  times.  He  left  one  memorial 
of  himself  in  the  salutation  "God  save  you,"  which  he 
introduced  among  the  citizens  of  Bologna  during  a  time 
of  public  commotion,  to  excite  them  to  gentler  and  more 
courteous  treatment  of  their  opponents,  and  which  soon 
spread  through  Europe,  and  has  lasted  to  our  own  day. 
The  angels  were  seen  whispering  in  his  ear  as  he  preached, 
and  his  words  had  ever  the  same  burden,  purity  and  peace. 
He  was  a  fervent  lover  of  the  Bosary,  and  sometimes,  as 
he  preached  this  devotion,  a  bright  rose  would  appear  on 
his  forehead,  or  a  golden  sunny  crown  would  glitter  over 
his  head.  He  had  a  marvellous  power  over  the  fiercest 
animals;  eagles  were  obedient  to  him,  and  a  wild  un- 
tamable horse  became  tractable  at  his  bidding.  His  devo- 
tion to  the  memory  of  Dominic  was  very  remarkable,  and 
Father  Stephen  of  Spain  assures  us  that  100,000  heretics 
were  converted  by  only  hearing  the  account  of  his  life 
and  miracles  as  narrated  by  his  devoted  follower.  The 
Pope  at  length  appointed  him  on  a  mission  of  pacification 
to  the  north  of  Italy,  and  such  was  the  success  of  his 
labours,  especially  after  a  discourse  addressed  to  the 
populace  on  that  very  Piazza  della  Valle  where  he  had 
first  heard  the  eloquence  of  his  holy  father,  that  all  the 
contending  parties  agreed  to  abandon  their  differences 
and  accept  of  peace.  Ezzelino  alone  held  out;  and  con- 
earning  him  John  had  an  awful  vision.  He  saw  the 
Almighty  seated  on  His  throne,  and  seeking  for  a  scourge 


THE   FESTIVAL   OP   PEACE.  187 

for  the  chastisement  of  Lombardy,  Ezzelino  was  chosen 
as  the  instrument  of  his  wrath,  and  surely  a  more  terrible 
one  was  never  found.  At  that  time  John  had  never  seen 
him,  and  when  first  they  met,  and  he  cast  his  eyes  on 
him,  he  wept,  recognising  him  as  the  man  he  had  seen  in 
his  vision,  and  cried  aloud,  "  It  is  he  whom  I  saw — the 
scourge  of  Lombardy.  Woe!  woe  to  thee,  unhappy 
country !  for  he  shall  execute  judgment  on  thee  to  the 
uttermost."  Nevertheless,  even  this  monster  was  in 
some  degree  touched  and  softened  by  the  preaching  of 
Blessed  John.  We  can  scarcely  imagine  a  more  won- 
derful and  beautiful  sight  than  that  presented  on  S. 
Augustine's  day  in  the  Campagna  of  Verona,  when  the 
banks  of  the  Adige  saw  300.000  people  met  together, 
with  the  princes  and  prelates  of  half  Italy,  to  swear  a  uni- 
versal peace.  There,  by  the  river-side,  rose  an  enormous 
pulpit  sixty  cubits  high,  that  John,  who  stood  in  it  to 
harangue  and  bless  the  vast  assembly,  might  be  seen  by  all. 
Ezzelino  himself  was  there.  A  few  weeks  before,  he  had 
been  burning  and  laying  waste  everything  that  was  before 
him,  and  Mantua,  Brescia,  and  Bologna  had  all  united 
in  besieging  the  unhappy  city  of  Verona.  But  one 
powerful  and  impassioned  appeal  of  blessed  John  had 
changed  the  entire  scene ;  and  now  the  sun  rose  on  that 
vast  assembly,  ranged  in  order  according  to  their  dignities, 
and  in  the  midst  of  a  profound  silence  he  addressed  them 
again  from  the  words  of  our  Lord,  "  Peace  I  give  you, 
my  peace  I  give  unto  you;"*  and  such  was  the  power  of 
his  eloquence  that  even  Ezzolino  hid  his  face  and  wept. 
Then  was  heard  a  cry  that  rose  from  that  great  multitude 
as  from  one  man.  "  Peace,  peace,"  they  cried,  "  and 
mercy  !'"  And  then,  when  they  had  given  vent  to  their 
emotion,  John  spoke  again,  and  blessed  them  in  the  name 
of  the  Pope,  and  all  swore  to  peace  and  unity,  and  Ezze- 
lino and  his  brother  Alberic  were  proclaimed  citi:ens  of 
Padua.  And  in  the  evening  there  were  rejoicings — the 
first  that  land  had  seen  for  many  a  day — fires  and  illumi- 
nations, music  and  happy  laughter,  all  the  hours  of  that 

-::-  These  words  are  engraved  on  the  foot  of  his  image  in  the  church 
of  the  Holy  Crown,  at  Vicenza. 


188  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

summer's  night,  to  celebrate  "  The  Festival  of  Peace." 
It  was  of  short  duration ;  yet,  short  as  it  was,  and  soon 
disturbed  by  the  unquiet  spirits  of  evil  men,  there  was  a 
harvest  of  glory  won  that  day  that  was  worth  a  thousand 
battle-fields  of  victory.  Ezzelino  soon  added  heresy  to 
his  other  crimes,  and  while  he  deluged  Lombardy  with 
blood,  he  let  loose  on  it  the  poison  of  false  doctrine. 
The  cities  of  Italy  at  length  banded  against  him,  and  in 
1259  he  was  taken  prisoner;  and  refusing  to  be  cured  of 
his  wounds  or  to  reeeive  any  food,  he  died  a  miserable 
death  of  despair.  An  obscurity  hangs  over  the  last  days 
of  John  of  Vicenza.  By  some  he  is  said  to  have  died 
in  the  prisons  of  Ezzelino;  whilst  others  affirm  him  to 
have  found  a  martyr's  death  among  the  Cumans.  But, 
however  this  may  be — and  the  uncertainty  of  his  fate  is 
but  one  among  many  examples  of  the  indifference  of  the 
order  to  historical  fame — the  acclamations  of  Italy  declared 
him  " Blessed;"  a  title  from  time  immemorial  allowed 
by  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  though  never  ratified  by  any 
formal  process  of  beatification. 

To  return,  however,  to  Dominic  and  his  novices.  The 
vocations  of  which  we  have  spoken  were  certainly  very 
remarkable,  and  were  often  the  result  of  what  we  should 
call  a  mere  chance,  directed  by  the  providence  of  God. 
Thus,  a  certain  priest,  greatly  drawn  to  the  person  of 
Dominic,  yet  still  uncertain  how  to  act,  had  recourse  to 
a  favourite  custom  of  those  days,  and  opening  the  Bible 
after  prayer,  beheld  the  words  addressed  to  the  centu- 
rion, "  Arise,  and  go  with  him,  nothing  doubting,  for  I 
have  sent  him."  The  same  means  were  adopted  by 
another,  Conrad,  bishop  of  Porto,  who  was  a  Cistercian 
monk,  and  entertained  grievous  and  perplexing  suspi- 
cions as  to  the  character  of  the  order.  He  opened  his 
missal,  and  read  the  words,  "Laudare,  henedicere,  prae- 
dicare;"  and  embracing  the  saint  the  next  time  he  met 
him,  he  exclaimed,  "I  am  all  yours:  my  habit  is  Cistercian, 
but  in  heart  I  am  a  Friar  Preacher."  Sometimes  the 
sudden  vocations  of  some  caused  violent  opposition  from 
their  friends.  A  young  student,  just  received  to  the 
habit,  was  beset  by  all  his  relations  and  companions,  who 


MIRACULOUS   SIGNS.  189 

threatened,  if  he  would  not  return  to  the  world,  to  carry 
him  off  by  violence,  Dominic's  friends  advised  him  to 
seek  the  protection  of  the  magistrates.  "  Trouble  not 
yourselves,  my  good  friends,"  he  replied,  "  we  have  no 
need  of  magistrates;  even  now  I  see  more  than  two  hun- 
dred angels  standing  round  about  the  church,  and  guarding 
it  from  our  enemies.'' 

These  threats  of  violence  were  sometimes,  however, 
carried  into  execution.  There  was  among  the  novices  a 
youth  whose  singular  gentleness  and  sweetness  of  disposi- 
tion greatly  endeared  him  to  Dominic  .  His  name  was 
Thomas  of  Paglio  ;  and  shortly  after  his  reception  his 
relatives  forcibly  carried  him  off  by  night,  and  dragging 
him  to  a  neighbouring  vineyard,  stripped  off  his  habit, 
and  clothed  him  in  his  former  worldly  garb.  Dominic, 
hearing  what  had  happened,  immediately  betook  himself 
to  his  only  arms,  of  prayer  ;  and  as  he  prayed,  Thomas 
was  seized  with  a  strange  and  unendurable  heat.  "I  burn, 
I  burn,"  he  cried  ;  "  take  these  clothes  from  me,  and 
give  me  back  my  habit ;  "  and  having  once  more  gained 
possession  of  his  woollen  tunic,  he  made  his  way  back  to 
the  convent  in  spite  of  all  opposition,  and  at  the  touch 
of  that  white  robe  of  innocence  the  fiery  anguish  was 
felt  no  more.  The  same  author  who  relates  this  circumstance 
tells  us  that  other  miraculous  signs,  besides  those  of  the 
efficacy  of  his  prayers,  were  noticed  as  attaching  to  the 
person  of  Dominic.  A  student  of  the  university  who 
served  his  Mass,  attested,  that  as  he  kissed  his  hand,  a 
divine  fragrance  was  perceptible,  which  had  the  power  of 
delivering  him  from  grievous  temptations  with  which  he 
was  tormented ;  and  that  a  certain  usurer,  whom  the  saint 
communicated,  felt  the  Sacred  Host  burning  against  his 
mouth  like  hot  coals,  whereupon  he  was  moved  to  penitence, 
and  making  restitution  of  all  his  ill-gotten  gains,  became 
sincerely  converted  to  God. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Heretics  of  northern  Italy.  Foundation  of  the  third  order.  Last 
visit  to  Rome  Meeting  with  Fulk  of  Toulouse.  Second  gen- 
eral chapter.  Division  of  the  order  into  provinces.  Blessed 
Paul  of  Hungary.    S.  Peter  Martyr. 

The  heretics  of  Northern  Italy,  of  whom  freqnent  men- 
tion has  already  been  made,  were  not  less  violent  in  their 
attacks  on  the  rights  and  property  of  the  Catholics  than 
their  brethren  of  Languedoc.  Protected  as  they  were  in 
many  cases  by  the  secular  princes,  who  in  their  constant 
feuds  one  with  another  made  use  of  them  as  political  instru- 
ments, even  when  no  way  sharers  in  their  opinions,  they 
availed  themselves  of  every  opportunity  for  seizing  the 
lands  of  the  Church,  so  that  the  clergy  were  in  many  places 
reduced  to  the  same  state  of  degradation  and  dependence 
which  had  already  produced  such  frightful  effects  in  Lan- 
guedoc. It  was  to  oppose  this  abuse,  and  to  place  a  bar- 
rier against  that  social  corruption  which  everywhere  follow- 
ed on  the  track  of  the  Manichean  heresy,  that  Dominic 
founded  his  third  order.  Intimately  entering  into  the  needs 
of  his  age,  his  quick  and  sagacious  eye  perceived  that  his 
institute  was  imperfect  so  long  as  it  aimed  at  the  salvation  of 
souls  only  through  the  ministrations  of  preaching,  or  the 
discipline  of  convent  rule.  The  world  itself  was  to  be 
sanctified ;  therefore,  out  of  the  world  itself  should  be 
formed  the  instruments  of  sanctification.  The  "  Militia  of 
Jesus  Christ."  as  the  new  institute  was  called,  ranked  un- 
der the  standard  of  the  Chureh  those  of  either  sex  who  had 
received  no  call  to  separate  themselves  from  the  ordinary 
life  of  seculars,  and  yet  desired  to  shelter  it  under  the 
skirts  of  the  religious  mantle.  The  first  object  contem- 
plated in  its  institution  was  the  defence  of  ecclesiastical 
property  ;  but  this  was  a  very  small  part  of  the  work  to 
which,    in   God's   providence,    it  was    afterwards    called. 


FOUNDATION   OF   THE   THIRD   ORDER.  191 

The  third  orders  of  Dominic  and  Francis  completed  the 
conquest  of  the  world.  They  placed  the  religious  habit 
under  the  breastplate  of  warriors  and  the  robes  of  kings. 
They  were  like  streams,  carrying  the  fertility  of  Paradise 
to  many  a  dry  and  barren  region,  so  that  the  wilderness 
blossomed  like  a  rose.  Something  of  the  barrier  between 
the  world  and  the  cloister  was  broken  down  ;  and  the 
degreees  of  heroic  sanctity  were  placed,  as  it  were,  within 
the  grasp  of  thousands,  who  else,  perhaps,  had  never 
risen  above  the  ordinary  standard. 

These  third  orders  have  given  us  a  crowd  of  saints, 
dearer  to  us,  perhaps,  and  more  familiar  than  any  others, 
in  so  far  as  we  feel  able  to  claim  their  close  sympathy 
with  ourselves;  and  the  more  so,  that  t<hey  are  a  per- 
petual witness  to  us,  that  no  path  in  life  is  so  busy,  or  so 
beset  with  temptations,  but  that  God's  grace  may  cover  it 
with  the  very  choicest  beauty  of  holiness.  As  time 
went  on,  and  the  circumstances  of  its  first  institution 
had  passed  away,  the  Militia  of  Jesus  Christ  exchanged 
its  name  for  that  of  "  the  Order  of  Penance  of  S.  Domi- 
nic," and  by  degrees  assumed  more  and  more  of  the  re- 
ligious character  ;  particularly  after  S.  Catherine  of  Siena 
had  by  her  example  given  a  new  shape  to  the  order, 
in  so  far  as  regarded  its  adoption  by  her  own  sex ;  and  in 
her  life,  and  that  of  the  numberless  saints  who  have  trod- 
den in  her  steps,  we  see  the  final  triumph  and  vindication 
of  what  we  may  venture  to  call  the  primary  Dominican 
idea  ;  namely,  that  the  highest  walks  of  contemplation 
are  not  incompatible  with  the  exercises  of  active 
charity,  amd  the  labour  for  souls ;  but  that  a  union  of 
both  is  possible,  which  more  nearly  fulfils  our  conception 
of  the  life  of  Christ  than  the  separated  perfections  of 
either. 

The  circumstances  attending  the  first  establishment  of 
this  order  are  unknown  to  us;  many  authors  are  of 
opinion  that  it  is  to  be  referred  to  a  much  earlier  date, 
and  that  it  was  even  the  first  of  the  three  founded  by 
S.  Dominic,  having  been  originally  instituted  in  Lan- 
guedoc  for  the  resistance  of  the  Albigenses.  It  is  very 
probable   that   some  kind   association   had   been    formed 


192  LIFE   OF    S.   DOMINIC. 

by  him  among  the  Catholic  confederates,  and  afterwards 
developed  into  a  more  regular  shape,  when  the  renewed 
encroachment  of  the  heretics  in  Lombardy  rendered  a 
similar  means  of  protection  desirable  ;  for  such  a  sup- 
position would  harmonize  very  much  with  S.  Dominic's 
general  method  of  action.  It  is  certainly  not  a  little 
remarkable,  that  an  uncertainty  hangs  over  the  founda- 
tion both  of  this  institute,  and  even  of  the  first  regular 
establishment  of  his  greater  order,  which  shows  how 
little  the  thought  of  human  praise  or  celebrity  found 
its  way  into  the  soul  of  their  author — like  the  silence  in 
the  Gospels  on  the  life  of  Mary,  which  tells  us  more  of 
her  sublime  humility  than  many  words  could  do — and 
this  humility  and  simplicity  of  action  forms  also,  if  we 
mistake  not,  a  large  feature  in  the  portraiture  of  Domi- 
nic. It  is  without  doubt,  however,  that  to  him  must  be 
ascribed  the  first  origin  of  this  form  of  the  religious  life  ; 
for  the  third  order  of  S.  Francis,  which  so  long  divided 
with  its  sister  institute  the  favour  of  Christendom,  was 
not  founded  until  1224,  three  years  after  S.  Dominic's 
death. 

The  December  of  1220  saw  Dominic  once  more  in 
Rome.  This,  his  last  visit  to  a  city  which  had  been  the 
scene  of  so  many  labonrs  and  miracles,  is  marked  by  the 
date  of  various  fresh  briefs  and  privileges  granted  to  his 
order  by  its  faithful  friend  and  benefactor,  Pope  Hono- 
rius.  The  first  of  these  briefs  was  for  remedying  some 
irregularities  which  had  taken  place  in  the  ordinations  of 
the  brethren  ;  others  were  addressed  to  the  bishops  and 
prelates  of  the  Church,  recommending  the  order  to  their 
protection  in  terms  of  the  warmest  eulogy  ;  and  one 
dated  April  1221,  had  reference  to  the  nuns  of  S.  Sixtus, 
to  whom  it  secured  the  possessions  formerly  enjoyed  by 
the  community  of  the  Trastevere.  This  visit  to  Rome 
was  the  occasion  of  a  meeting  that  must  have  been  full 
of  the  tenderest  interest  to  the  heart  of  Dominic.  Fulk 
of  Toulouse  was  then  at  the  pontifical  court  ;  little  more 
than  three  years  had  elapsed  since  that  dispersion  of  the 
sixteen  brethren  of  S.  Romain,  which  had  taken  place  in 
his   own  presence,  and  now  he  witnessed  the  triumph  of 


MEETING   WITH    FULK   OF   TOULOUSE.  193 

an  order  to  which  he  had  been  so  true  a  nursing  father. 
Three  years  had  converted  the  prior  of  Prouille,  the 
leader  of  that  devoted  little  band  whose  destinies,  to  every 
eye  but  his,  seemed  then  so  hopeless  and  obscure,  into 
the.  master-general  of  a  great  order,  whose  convents  were 
spread  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  Christendom. 
All  things  in  their  respective  positions  were  changed,  save 
Dominic  himself;  but  Fulk  could  have  detected  no  dif- 
ference -between  Dominic  the  apostle  of  Languedoc,  and 
Dominic  the  master  of  the  Friars  Preachers,  save  in  the 
adoption  of  a  yet  poorer  habit,  and  those  few  silver  hairs 
which,  we  are  told,  his  long  labours,  and  not  his  years, 
had  begun  to  sprinkle  over  his  tonsured  head.  But  the 
heroic  heart,  the  patient  gentle  spirit,  the  simple  hearty 
joyousness  of  his  friend,  were  still  the  same ;  and  so,  too, 
was  the  disinterestedness  of  his  soul,  of  which  Fulk  had 
proof  in  a  transaction  whose  acts  are  still  preserved. 
This  was  the  renunciation,  on  Dominic's  part,  of  that 
grant,  formerly  made  by  the  bishop,  of  the  sixth  part  of 
the  tenths  of  his  revenues  for  the  support  of  the  order 
when  it  was  yet  young  and  friendless.  The  principle  of 
poverty  had  since  then  been  more  strictly  developed  in 
the  institute,  and  Dominic  believed  he  could  no  longer 
in  conscience  accept  this  revenue,  even  though  given,  in 
the  very  terms  of  the  grant,  as  an  alms  to  the  poor  of 
Christ.  Fulk,  on  his  part,  confirmed  the  donation  of  the 
church  of  Notre-Dame-de-Fangeaux  to  the  religious  of 
Prouille;  for  it  will  be  observed  that  the  rigid  law  of 
poverty  which  he  enforced  on  the  rest  of  his  order,  he 
relaxed  in  favour  of  the  communities  of  women,  for  whose 
state  he  judged  a  moderate  revenue  was  requisite  to  be 
secured. 

It  were  to  be  wished  that  more  particulars  had  been 
left  us  of  the  great  patriarch's  last  appearance  in  the 
Roman  capital.  Rome  had  witnessed  the  epopee  of  his 
life;  henceforward  S.  Sixtus  and  Santa  Sabina  were  to 
become  classic  names  among  his  children;  and  if,  as  we 
have  reason  to  believe,  a  prophetic  knowledge  had  been 
granted  him  that  the  period  of  his  death  was  not  far  off, 
there   must   have  been   a  peculiar  charm  in  his  parting 


194  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

visits  to  these  familiar  scenes.  As  usual,  every  day  saw 
him  at  the  grating  of  S.  Sixtus,  renewing  his  exhortations 
to  the  sisters  to  keep  fast  to  the  holy  rule  under  whose 
power  they  had  been  transformed  into  the  saintly  life. 
The  affection  which  he  so  faithfully  preserved  for  these 
spiritual  children  is  illustrated  by  one  of  the  miracles 
related  to  us  by  Sister  Cecilia  as  happening  at  this  time. 
Upon  a  certaiu  day  he  stopped  at  the  gate,  and,  without 
entering,  asked  of  the  portress  how  Sister  Theodora, 
Sister  Tedrano,  and  Sister  Ninfa  were.  She  replied  they 
were  all  three  ill  of  fever.  "  Tell  them,"  said  Dominic, 
"from  me,  that  I  command  them  all  to  be  cured;"  and 
at  the  delivery  of  the  message  they  all  three  arose  in 
perfect  health. 

Dominic's  presence  was  always  peculiarly  welcomed  in 
Rome,  where  he  was  well  known  to  many  of  the  cardinals 
and  others  attached  to  the  Pontifical  court ;  and  these 
vie  one  with  another  in  the  diligence  with  which  they 
sought  his  companionship ;  for  as  it  was  well  expressed  in 
the  bull  of  his  canonization,  "  none  ever  spoke  to  him  and 
went  away  without  feeling  the  better."  But  popularity 
was  the  last  thing  that  he  sought ;  and  it  is  to  be  believed 
that  the  celebrity  he  enjoyed  at  Home  was  one  of  the 
principal  motives  for  his  formerly  removing  his  residence 
from  thence  to  Bologna,  whither  he  now  returned  early 
in  the  month  of  May,  to  meet  the  second  chapter  of  the 
order,  which  was  about  to  assemble  in  that  city.  On  his 
way  he  passed  through  Bolsena,  where  he  was  often 
accustomed  to  stay,  being  at  such  times  always  hospitably 
entertained  by  a  certain  citizen,  who,  to  prove  his  friend- 
ship for  his  guest,  left  it  as  an  obligation  to  his  heirs 
that  they  should  always  receive  and  lodge  all  the  Friars 
Preachers  who  should  pass  through  Bolsena  in  time  to 
come,  a  condition  still  faithfully  observed  at  the  end  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  as  Theodoric  of  Apoldia  narrates. 
This  particular  mark  of  esteem  was  probably  a  token  of 
gratitude,  for  it  happened  that  in  one  of. his  visits  to  this 
house,  Dominic  had  preserved  the  vines  of  his  host  in  the 
midst  of  a  violent  storm  which  devastated  all  the  surround- 
ing vineyards. 


SECOND   CHAPTER  OE   BOLOGNA.  195 

The  second  chapter  of  Bologna  opened  on  the  30th  of 
May,  1221.  Dominic,  at  the  commencement  of  their  pro 
ceedings,  addressed  the  brethren  at  considerable  length, 
laying  before  them  the  state  of  the  order  in  the  countries 
wherein  it  was  already  established,  and  proposing  its  still 
farther  extension.  It  appeared  that  sixty  convents  were 
already  founded,  and  yet  a  greater  number  in  course  of 
erection.  For  the  more  perfect  government,  therefore, 
of  the  order,  it  was  now  divided  into  eight  provinces,  and 
a  prior-provincial  appointed  to  each  of  them ;  namely, 
to  Spain,  Toulouse,  France,  Lombardy,  Rome,  Germany, 
Hungary,  and  England.  These  two  latter  countries  were 
yet  to  be  colonized  by  the  Friars  Preachers ;  and  the 
appointment  and  despatch  of  their  first  missioners  formed 
one  of  the  undertakings  of  this  chapter.  Of  the  founda- 
tion of  the  English  province  we  shall  presently  speak 
more  at  length ;  that  of  Hungary  was  placed  under  the 
government  of  a  native  of  the  country,  named  Paul,  who 
had  recently  been  received  into  the  order  by  Dominic, 
and  had  previously  filled  the  chair  of  canon  law  in  the 
university  of  Bologna.  Immediately  after  his  reception, 
Paul  was  despatched  to  his  new  province  with  four  com- 
panions, of  whom  one  was  Blessod  Sadoc  of  Poland,  the 
tale  of  whose  martyrdom,  with  his  forty-eight  compa- 
nions, is  among  the  most  interesting  incidents  recorded 
in  the  annals  of  the  order.*  The  crown  of  martyrdom 
was  reserved  for  Paul  also.  He  received  it  the  following 
year,  together  with  ninety  of  his  brethren,  from  the  hands 
of  the  Cuman  Tartars,  who  infested  the  borders  of 
Hungary,  and  whose  conversion  to  the  Christian  faith 
had  so  long  formed  the  cherished  day-dream  of  S.  Dominic. 
It  would  seem,  indeed,  as  though  this  nation,  whose 
barbarity  exceeded  that  of  any  of  the  savage  hordes  that 
still  hung  round  the  boundaries  of  Christian  Europe,  was 
destined,  if  not  to  be  converted  by  his  order,  at  least  to 
fill  its  ranks  with  an  army  of  martyrs.  Another  of  Paul's 
earliest  companions,  Blessed  Berengarius  of  Poland,  the 
archbishop  of  Cracow,  was  slain  by  them  a  few  years 
afterwards,  and  in  1260  seventy  more  were  sent  to  join 
*  See  No.  2.  of  "  Catholic  Legends,"  in  this  series. 


196  LIEE  OP  S.  DOMINIC. 

their  company;  all  of  whom,  it  is  said,  were  children  and 
disciples  of  the  glorious  S.  Hyacinth 

The  extraordinary  manner  in  which  these  first  founders 
propagated  the  order  in  the  countries  whither  they  were 
sent,  may  be  estimated  by  the  number  of  these  martyrs : 
the  ninety  who  died  in  company  with  blessed  Paul  must 
all  have  been  gathered  into  the  ranks  of  the  institute 
within  a  year  from  the  period  of  his  departure  from 
Bologna.  If  this  may  be  taken  as  anything  like  a  fair 
proof  of  the  stimulus  to  religion  which  everywhere 
followed  on  the  appearance  of  the  Friars  Preachers, 
it  may  perhaps  dispose  us  the  more  readily  to  believe 
an  incident  which  is  said  to  have  occurred  just  before 
the  meeting  of  this  second  chapter.  Two  of  the  brethren 
who  were  travelling  towards  Bologna,  were  met  on  the 
road  by  a  man  who  joined  himself  to  their  company  and 
fell  into  conversation  with  them.  He  inquired  the  object 
of  their  journey,  and  being  informed  of  the  approaching 
thapter,  "What,"  he  asked,  "is  the  business  which  is 
likely  to  be  discussed  ?"  "  The  establishment  of  our 
brethren  in  new  countries,"  replied  one  of  the  friars ; 
"England  and  Hungary  are  amongst  those  proposed." 
"  And  Greece  also,"  said  the  stranger,  "  and  Germany, 
is  it  not  so?"  "You  say  truly,"  returned  the  friar; 
"it  is  said  that  we  shall  shortly  be  dispersed  into  all 
these  provinces."  Then  the  stranger  utttered  a  loud  cry 
as  of  great  anguish,  and  exclaiming,  "  Your  order  is  my 
confusion,"  he  leapt  into  the  air,  and  so  disappeared; 
and  the  friars  knew  that  it  was  the  voice  of  the  great 
enemy  of  man,  who  was  thus  compelled  to  bear  witness 
to  the  power  which  the  servants  of  God  exercised  against 
him. 

The  convents  of  the  Friars  Preachers  in  the  new  pro- 
vince of  Hungary  may  be  said  to  have  been  planted  in 
blood,  that  seed  of  the  Church  which  has  never  failed  to 
bring  forth  the  hundredfold.  "  In  blood  were  they  sown," 
says  Marchese,  "and  in  blood  did  they  increase;  so  that  the 
more  they  were  slain,  so  much  the  more  numerous  did 
they  become,  till  within  a  brief  space  a  province  was 
erected  of  vast  extent,  including  the  countries  of  Molda- 


H  S  ADDRESS  TO  THE  CHAPTER  197 

via,  Transylvania,  Croatia,  Bosnia,  and  Dalmatia  ;'  and 
this  was  afterwards  divided  into  two,  the  second  of  which, 
bearing  the  name  of  Dalmatia,  contained  a  great  number 
of  convents,  illustrious  for  the  names  of  many  saints  and 
martyrs  who  flourished  in  them 

In  his  address  to  the  assembled  fathers,  Dominic  gave 
them  an  earnest  exhortation  to  the  pursuit  of  the  sacred 
learning,  that  they  might  be  the  better  fitted  for  the 
charge  laid  on  them  by  their  vocation  as  Preachers.  He 
reminded  them  that  the  briefs  granted  so  liberally  by  the 
Vicar  of  Christ,  recommended  them  to  the  favour  of  the 
universal  Church,  inasmuch  as  they  were  therein  de- 
clared to  be  labourers  for  God's  honour,  and  the  salvation 
of  souls,  and  that  this  end  could  never  be  attained  with- 
out a  diligent  application  to  the  divine  Scriptures  ;  he 
therefore  enjoined  all  who  should  be  engaged  in  the 
sacred  office  of  preaching  to  apply  without  ceasing  to 
the  study  of  theology,  and  to  carry  always  with  them 
a  copy  of  the  Gospels,  and  the  seven  canonical  Epistles. 
The  letter  commonly  attributed  to  S.  Dominic,  and  pur- 
porting to  be  addressed  by  him  to  his  religious  in  the 
province  of  Poland,  after  the  conclusion  of  the  second 
general  chapter,  has  been  questioned  by  some  as  of 
doubtful  authenticity.  Without  venturing  to  decide  the 
disputed  point,  we  may  refer  to  the  peculiar  force  with 
which  the  study  of  the  divine  Scriptures  is  recommended 
in  this  letter,  as  exactly  harmonizing  with  the  tone  of  his 
address  to  the  chapter  :  it  is  given  by  Malvenda  and 
Bzovius  as  undoubtedly  the  work  of  S.  Dominic,  nor 
was  its  authorship  ever  called  in  question  until  the  time 
of  Echard.  Touron,  in  his  life  of  the  saint,  has  entered 
into  the  critical  examination  of  the  question,  and  decides 
that  the  evidence  is  all  in  favour  of  its  authenticity  ; 
while  the  letter  itself  is,  as  he  says,  not  unworthy  of 
him.  It  breathes  a  noble  spirit  throughout,  exhorting 
the  brethren  to  a  fervent  observance  of  their  rule,  and  a 
life  worthy  of  the  angelic  ministry  with  which  they  were 
charged.  "  Let  us  apply  ourselves  with  energy,"  he  adds 
in  the  concluding  paragraph,  I1  to  the  great  actions  which 
God  demands  of  us  j"  a  word  of  heroic  exhortation  which 


198  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

has  rung  for  centuries  in  the  ears  of  his  children,  and  led 
them  on  to  aim  at  something  of  that  greatness  in  the 
paths  of  holiness  which  it  points  out  to  them  as  the  object 
of  their  vocation. 

It  was  probably  whilst  the  chapter  was  still  sitting 
that  Dominic  gave  the  habit  to  one  who  was  eventually 
to  become  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments  of  the  order. 
Peter  of  Verona,  the  son  of  heretical  parents,  but  him- 
self destined  to  die  a  martyr  in  defence  of  the  faith,  was 
at  that  time  a  student  in  the  university  of  Bologna,  and 
though  a  mere  youth  of  sixteen,  his  learning  and  holiness 
had  already  made  his  name  respected  among  his  fellows. 
Dominic  did  not  live  to  see  the  glory  of  his  future  career, 
yet  even  now  there  were  sufficient  indications  of  it  to 
make  him  peculiarly  dear  to  the  heart  of  the  saint,  who 
felt  himself  drawn  by  a  powerful  attraction  to  the  youth 
whose  angelic  innocence  of  life  had  been  united,  even 
from  infancy,  to  an  extraordinary  courage  in  the  pro- 
fession of  the  Catholic  faith.  "  The  hammer  of  the 
heretics,"  as  he  was  commonly  termed,  he  died  by  their 
hand,  writing  on  the  ground  in  his  blood  the  word 
Credo  ;  and  among  all  the  disciples  whom  S.  Dominic 
left  behind  him  to  continue  his  work,  we  may  single  out 
S.  Peter  Martyr  as  the  one  on  whom  his  mantle  may  most 
surely  be  said  to  have  fallen. 

Leaving  for  awhile  the  course  of  S.  Dominic's  life,  we 
will  proceed  to  say  a  few  words  concerning  the  foundation 
of  the  order  in  our  own  island,  trusting  that  the  digression, 
if  it  be  one,  may  be  pardoned  on  a  subject  so  full  of  interest 
to  the  English  reader. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  order  in  England.  Arrival  at  Oxford  of  Gilbert  de  Fresnoy. 
Celebrated  Englishmen  of  the  order.  Walter  Malclerk,  Bacon, 
and  Fishaere.  The  order  and  the  universities.  The  German 
provinces. 

Gilbert  de  Fresnoy  was  the  person  appointed  by 
Dominic  to  undertake  the  foundation  of  the  new  pro- 
vince of  England  ;  the  establishment  of  which  was,  it  is 
said,  resolved  on  in  compliance  with  the  earnest  en- 
treaties of  certain  distinguished  persons  of  that  nation. 
Previous  to  the  period  of  this  second  chapter,  we  can 
find  no  mention  of  Brother  Gilbert  ;  but  we  are  told  he 
immediately  set  out  with  twelve  companions,  travelling 
in  the  suite  of  Peter  de  Roche,  bishop  of  Wincester, 
whose "  presence  at  Bologna,  on  his  return  from  the  Holy 
Land,  may  probably  have  hastened  the  dispatch  of  the 
English  mission.  They  arrived  at  Canterbury  some  time 
in  the  month  of  June,  where  the  archbishop,  Stephen 
Langton,  was  then  residing.  He  received  the  new 
comers  with  extraordinary  kindness,  and  insisted  on 
Gilbert's  addressing  a  sermon  to  the  people  on  that  very 
day.  It  must  have  been  a  somewhat  hard  tax  on  the 
preacher's  powers,  the  more  so  as  he  probably  felt  the 
future  success  of  his  enterprise,  in  so  far  as  it  depended 
on  the  favour  of  the  archbishop,  was  in  no  small  degree 
likely  to  hang  on  the  good  or  bad  opinion  he  might  form 
of  his  sermon.  Happily  it  was  received  with  universal 
applause.  It  was  declared  to  be  grave,  elegant,  and  full 
of  wisdom  ;  and  Stephen  promised  both  him  and  his 
companions  that  they  should  never  fail  to  find  in  him 
a  friend  and  a  protector.  They  proceeded  on  their 
journey  to  London,  and  thence  to  Oxford,  where  they 
arrived  on  the  feast  of  the  Assumption ;  and  having  settled 
in  the  parish  of  S.  Edward's,  they  immediately  erected  a 


200  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

little  oratory  dedicated  to  our  Lady,  and  opened  schools, 
which  from  the  name  of  the  parish  were  called  S.  Edward'3 
schools. 

Thus  the  children  of  S.  Dominic  found  themselves  at 
length  in  connection  with  the  three  great  universities  of 
Europe — Bologna,  Paris  and  Oxford  ;  although,  indeed, 
it  was  not  until  the  famous  struggle  which  took  place 
seven  years  afterwards  at  Paris,  that  any  of  their  num- 
bers were  raised  to  the  professors'  chairs.  But  from  the 
very  first,  the  character  they  aimed  at  as  a  teaching 
order  was  universally  avowed,  as  the  very  letter  of  their 
constitutions,  and  the  provisions  they  assign  for  the 
carrying  out  of  their  system  of  study,  and  receiving 
degrees,  evidently  show.  Yet  it  is  worthy  of  notice, 
that  the  first  occasion  on  which  we  find  any  formal 
mention  of  their  schools  is  in  the  account  of  those 
opened  at  Oxford  ;  for  hitherto,  at  both  the  other  uni- 
versities, they  are  rather  spoken  of  as  students  than  as 
having  yet  assumed  the  office  of  teachers,  except  in  the 
pulpits.  They  continued  to  reside  in  the  parish  of 
S.  Edward's  till  the  king  granted  them  a  site  of  ground 
outside  the  walls  ;  but  this  place  proving  inconvenient 
for  their  purpose,  owing  to  its  distance  from  the  city, 
they  betook  themselves  to  prayer  that  they  might  find 
favour  in  the  eyes  of  the  university  authorities.  Nor 
were  their  prayers  in  vain ;  for  they  soon  after  obtained 
a  settlement  in  the  Jewish  quarters  in  the  town,  u  to  the 
intent,"  says  Wood,  "  that  they  might  induce  the  Jews 
to  embrace  the  Christian  faith,  as  well  by  the  sanctity 
of  their  lives  as  by  preaching  the  word,  in  which  they 
excelled."  Shorly  after  this  the  canons  of  S.  Frideswide 
let  them  some  lands  at  a  low  rate  ;  and  aided  by  further 
benefactions  from  the  countess  of  Oxford,  and  Walter 
Malclerk,  bishop  of  Carlisle,  they  built  themselves  a 
house  and  church,  which  stood  partly  in  the  parish 
of  S.  Aldate,  on  the  ground  belonging  to  the  canons  before 
mentioned.  The  composition  entered  into  between  the 
canons  and  themselves  in  regard  to  this  ground  still 
exists,  and  seems  to  bear  a  little  hardly  on  the  friars  ; 
nevertheless,    we   are  assured   they   were  in  favour  with 


WALTER  MALCLERK.  201 

them  as  with  the  citizens,  "being  as  acceptable  to  the 
latter  for  their  piety,  as  they  were  to  the  former  for 
their  learning."  Forty  years  afterwards,  their  houses 
being  too  small  to  accommodate  the  immense  number 
of  scholars  who  flocked  to  hear  them,  they  removed  to 
an  island  in  the  river,  "in  the  south  suburbs,  and  most 
delightful  for  situation,"  where  they  continued  to  re- 
side until  the  general  destruction  of  religious  houses  in 
the  time  of  Henry  VIII.  The  first  who  taught  in  the 
schools  of  S.  Edward  was  one  John  of  S.  Giles,  "a  man," 
says  Matthew  Paris,  "skilful  in  the  art  of  medicine,  a 
great  professor  of  divinity,  and  excellently  learned  and 
instructing."  They  were  there  greatly  cramped  for  room, 
but  in  their  island  house,  we  read,  they  had  larger  space ; 
and  that  the  acts  of  divinity  were  given  in  the  church 
and  chapter-house,  whilst  the  lectures  on  philosophy  were 
delivered  in  the  cloister.  They  became  in  time  the  greatest 
ornaments  of  the  university,  eminent,  as  it  is  said,  for  all  the 
learning  of  the  time. 

Of  the  great  men  whom  they  gave  to  England  it  would 
be  impossible  to  recount  all  the  names;  yet  some  we 
should  not  pass  over  without  a  word  of  notice.  Walter 
Malclerk,  their  first  benefactor,  became  afterwards  a 
member  of  their  community,  and  resigned  his  bishopric, 
and  every  other  dignity  he  possessed,  to  assume  their 
humble  habit.  His  history  is  a  remarkable  one.  His  noble 
birth,  attractive  manners,  and  extraordinary  genius,  raised 
him  to  the  highest  favour  at  the  court  of  Henry  III., 
who,  besides  elevating  him  to  the  bishopric  of  Carlisle, 
made  him  lord  high  treasurer  of  the  kingdom.  In  this 
position  many  years  were  spent  in  a  life  of  brilliant  state 
services ;  but,  as  it  would  seem,  the  taint  of  worldly 
ambition  for  a  time  obscured  his  better  qualities  and  his 
religious  character.  After  a  brief  period  of  disgrace  at 
court,  we  find  him  again  at  the  head  of  affairs  in  1234; 
and  when,  eleven  years  later,  the  king  marched  from 
London  against  his  revolted  subjects,  he  left  Walter 
Malclerk  to  govern  the  kingdom  during  the  period  of  his 
absence  in  the  field.  But  God  had  destined  the  con- 
clusion of  his  life  to  present  us  with  another  of  those 


202  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

many  singular  conversions  whose  stories  crowd  the  annals 
of  the  Dominican  order.     We  are  not  told  what  was  the 
immediate  cause  which  wrought  the  change  in  his  views 
and   desires,    and    disgusted   him   with   the    very    career 
which  he  had  hitherto  so  ardently  pursued;  but  as  soon 
as  grace  had  effectually  touched  his  heart,  he  resolved  on 
a    generous    and    entire    sacrifice  ;    and,    resigning    his 
bishopric  and  distributing  all  he  possessed  to  the  poor, 
he  took  the   habit  of  the  Friars   Preachers   at   Oxford, 
where  he  gave  himself  wholly  to   a  life  of  penance  and 
religious  fervour.     This  act  of  heroic  renunciation  filled 
all   England  with    surprise,   whilst  the  friars   themselves 
were  forced  to  admire  the  marvel  which  had  transformed 
a  courtier  and  a  minister  of  state  into  the  humble  novice 
of  a  mendicant   community.     He  died  two   years  after- 
wards, and  left  behind  him  several  learned  works.     Another 
reaowned  member  of  the  order  was  Robert  Bacon,   the 
brother,    or    as   some   say,    the   uncle,    of   the   yet   more 
celebrated    Roger   Bacon.      He   joined    the    friars   when 
an  old  man,  out  of  the  great  love  he  bore  S.   Dominic. 
Together  with  him  we  must  notice  his  dear  and  bosom 
friend,  Richard  Fishacre,  whom  Ireland  calls  "the  most 
learned  among  the  learned."     He  was   a  great  admirer 
of  Aristotle,  whose  works  he  ever  carried  in  his  bosom. 
"He  was,"  says  Wood,  "renowned  both  as  a  philosopher 
and   as   a  divine,    for   which   reason  he  was  so  dear  to 
Bacon  that  he  became  his  inseparable   companion ;    and 
as  they  were  most  constant  associates  in  life,  so  neither 
could   they  be   separated   in   death.     For    as  the  turtle- 
dove, bewailing  its  lost  mate,  dies,  so,  Bacon  being  dead, 
Fishacre  neither  could  nor  would  survive."     He  was  the 
first  English  preacher  who  commented  on  the   "Book  of 
Sentences." 

Other  convents  of  the  order  were  soon  affiliated  to  the 
parent  house,  the  Black  Friars  in  London  being  one  of 
the  earliest  of  these  foundations.  Indeed,  they  seem  to 
have  been  deservedly  popular  among  the  English,  who 
were  then,  as  now,  a  sermon-loving  people;  and  so  great 
were  the  crowds  that  flocked  to  hear  the  new  preachers 
that  the  sermons  were  generally  delivered  out  of  doors 


THE  ORDER   AND   THE   UNIVERSITIES.  203 

and  we  find  frequent  mention  of  the  "portable  pulpits" 
they  used,  convenient  to  be  set  up  in  the  public  streets. 

From  England  they  soon  found  their  way  to  Ireland ; 
Father  Ronald,  an  Irishman  by  birth,  and  one  of  the 
first  missionaries  from  Bologna,  being  sent  over  there  very 
shortly  after  the  settlement  of  his  companions  at  Oxford. 
He  died  archbishop  of  Armagh,  having  lived  to  see  the 
order  spread  through  almost  every  province  of  the  island. 
The  spectacle  exhibited  in  the  example  of  Walter  Malclerk 
was  again  and  again  repeated  in  a  long  list  of  eminent  men 
of  both  countries,  who,  in  the  succeeding  centuries,  laid 
aside  every  dignity  to  become  children  in  the  noviciates  of 
the  Friars  Preachers. 

The  Franciscans  soon  followed  in  the  track  of  their 
sister  order,  and  an  interesting  account  is  given  us  of 
their  first  arrival  at  Oxford,  where  they  were  generously 
and  hospitably  received  by  their  Dominican  brethren. 
Two  of  the  Friars  Minors,  ignorant  of  the  country,  and 
perfectly  friendless,  had  first  begged  at  the  door  of  the 
Benedictine  monastry  of  Abingdon,  and  being  unknown, 
and  mistaken\  for  "  mimics  or  disguised  persons,"  were 
driven  away  With  bad  usage.  They  would  have  passed 
the  night  in/ the  road,  if  a  young  monk,  touched  with 
compassipn/had  not  secretly  hid  them  in  a  hayloft ;  and 
the  next  morning  they  pursued  their  way  to  Oxford, 
praying  as  they  went,  that  "  God  would  dispose  some 
goodwill  for  them  among  the  men  of  Oxford.  Nor  were 
their  prayers  in  vain;  for  being  come  to  the  city,  and 
going  directly  to  the  house  of  the  Dominicans  in  the 
Jewry,  though  they  durst  scarce  hope  for  it,  they  were  by 
them  entertained  with  extraordinary  care  and  charity, 
and  having  found  them  as  friendly  as  the  Abingdonians 
had  been  merciless,  they  had  the  benefit  of  the  refectory 
and  dormitory  till  the  eighth  day."*  This  mutual 
exchange  of  hospitality  forms  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful features  in  the  history  of  the  two  orders,  and  might 
be  illustrated  by  innumerable  examples  of  a  similar 
kind. 

It  will  be  seen  that  both  at  Oxford  and  Paris,   and  also 
■k-  Steven's  Dugdale,  from  the  MS.  of  A.  Wood. 


204  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

at  Bologna,  the  order  immediately  assumed  a  position  in 
connection  with  the  nniversities.  In  fact,  this  connection 
was  one  of  the  principal  objects  contemplated  by  these 
foundations  in  those  cities.  The  constitutions  of  the 
order  were  drawn  up  with  a  view  of  providing  for  a 
regular  system  of  study  ;  and  at  the  same  time  things 
were  so  arranged  that  the  student  was  still  under  reli- 
gious discipline,  and  study  was  made  only  a  part  of  his 
religious  training.  They  were  not  cast  abroad  on  the 
great  world  of  university  life  to  shift  for  themselves :  but 
the  idea  was,  that  in  all  the  great  centres  of  learning 
there  should  be  a  religious  house,  to  which  the  students 
of  the  order  were  bound  as  members  of  its  community 
during  the  period  of  their  university  course  ;  and  so  the 
university  and  community  life  were  woven  together,  and 
the  intellectual  advantages  of  the  one  laid  under  the 
restrictions  of  the  other.  The  nature  of  their  studies 
was  regulated  and  limited  so  as,  if  not  exclusively  theo- 
logical, at  least  to  bear  more  or  less  on  theology.  Merely 
secular  and  honorary  distinctions  and  degrees,  granted 
by  the  university  authorities,  were  not  recognized,  the 
order  reserving  a  system  of  graduation  in  its  own  hands ; 
and  so  by  means  of  very  minute  and  most  sagacious  legis- 
lation, one  of  the  great  Dominican  ideas  was  gradually 
given  an  active  and  practical  existence,  namely,  the 
Christianizing  of  the  intellect,  the  cultivation  of  human 
science  as  a  handmaid  to  the  science  of  divine  things, 
and  the  pursuit  of  learning  under  the  safeguard  of  that 
subjection  and  spiritual  bondage  which  secured  humility. 
This  was  the  system  which,  founded  by  Dominic  himself, 
in  the  succeeding  age  produced  S.  Thomas.  We  say, 
founded  by  S.  Dominic  himself,  for  it  is  in  the  very  year 
following  that  of  his  first  visit  to  the  brethren  of  S.  James, 
before  spoken  of,  that  we  find  that  community  described 
by  Pope  Honorious  as  a  The  brethren  of  the  Order  of 
Preachers,  studying  in  the  Sacred  Page  at  Paris."  Doubt- 
less it  was  the  peculiar  adaptation  of  this  system  to 
the  wants  of  the  day  which  produced  the  surprising 
effects  we  observe  in  the  period  immediately  succeeding 
Dominic's  death.     The  learning  and  the  piety  of  Europe 


THE   GERMAN   PROVINCE  205 

then  flowed  into  the  order  of  Preachers  like  a  great 
wave.  Blessed  Jordan,  his  successor  in  the  government, 
is  said  to  have  clothed  more  than  a  thousand  novices  with 
his  own  hand  :  and  Martene,  before  quoted,  says  of  him, 
"  There  entered  under  his  rule  at  Paris,  into  the  order  of 
Preachers,  so  many  masters  in  theology,  doctors  -in  law, 
bachelors  and  masters  of  arts,  and  such  a  countless  mul- 
titude of  others,  that  the  whole  world  stood  amazed  at  the 
grace  which  attended  their  preaching,  and  at  the  wonderful 
things  that  they  did."* 

Before  resuming  the  thread  of  Dominic's  personal 
history,  we  cannot  pass  without  notice  the  foundation  of 
the  German  province,  which  took  place  at  the  same  time 
as  those  of  England  and  Hungary.  The  provincial  ap- 
pointed for  Germany  by  the  chapter  of  Bologna  was  that 
same  Master  Conrad  who  had  been  gained  to  the  order 
in  so  extraordinary  a  manner  by  the  progress  of  Dominic  ; 
and  when,  soon  after  his  arrival  in  his  new  government, 
the  people  of  Cologne  demanded  a  foundation  of  the 
friars  among  them,  Henry  of  Utrecht  was  chosen  as  superior 
of  the  new  house  destined  to  be  so  celebrated  in  the 
Dominican  annals.  Since  his  profession  at  Paris  in  com- 
pany with  Jordan  of  Saxony,  as  related  in  a  former 
chapter,  he  had  remained  in  that  city,  where  the  charm 
of  his  character  no  less  than  of  his  preaching  had  obtained 
him  universal  applause.  But  popularity  had  no  power  to 
change  or  disturb  the  perfect  calm  and  humility  of  his 
soul.  "  Never  was  there  seen  in  him,"  says  Blessed 
Jordan,  "  any  trouble,  emotion  or  sadness  ;  the  peace 
of  God  and  the  joy  of  a  good  conscience  were  so  painted 
in  his  countenance,  that  you  needed  but  to  see  him  to 
learn  how  to  love  God."  It  is  said  that  when  the  news 
of  his  entrance  into  the  order  reached  Utrecht,  the  canon 
who  had  educated  him  from  boyhood,  and  two  other  of 
his  friends,  were  greatly  grieved ;  and  before  setting  out 

*  Those  of  our  readers  who  may  be  curious  for  a  more  particular 
account  of  the  Dominican  system  of  study,  and  its  happy  blending 
of*  the  intellectual  and  monastic  training,  w«  may  refer  to  an  article 
in  the  Dublin  heview  (Sept.  1345),  on  "  the  Ancient  Irish  Domini- 
can Schools;"  and  another,  from  a  well-known  writer  in  the 
Mritish  Critic  (Jan.  1843)  on"  Dante  and  the  Catholic  Philosophy.*' 


208  LIFE    OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

for  Paris  to  persuade  him  to  return,  they  spent  a  night 
in  earnest  prayer  to  obtain  light  from  God  on  the  subject. 
As  they  prayed,  a  voice  sounded  through  the  church, 
saying,  "  It  is  the  Lord  who  has  done  this,  and  He  does 
not  change."  Relieved  from  their  anxiety,  they  abandoned 
their  first  purpose,  and  exhorted  him  instead  to  a  faithful 
perseverance. 

In  1224  the  convent  of  Cologne  was  at  length  founded. 
Henry  went  there  alone  ;  but  his  talents,  and  the  singular 
attractiveness  of  his  virtues,  soon  gathered  many  about 
him  ;  his  influence  over  the  people  was  extraordinary. 
The  besetting  vice  of  the  nation  at  that  time  was  blas- 
phemy— one,  perhaps,  the  most  difficult  to  eradicate  from 
the  inveterate  force  of  habit ;  yet  such  was  the  power  of 
Henry's  eloquence  that  he  inspired  the  whole  city  with  a 
horror  of  every  kind  of  imprecation. 

Cologne  became  in  the  succeeding  century  the  nursery 
of  the  Dominican  order.  Within  its  walls  S.  Ambrose  of 
Siena  and  S.  Thomas  of  Aquin  studied  together  under 
Albert  the  Great ;  names  to  which  might  be  associated  a 
crowd  of  others  who  illustrated  their  age  with  the  splen- 
dour of  their  learning  and  the  saintliness  of  their  lives  ; 
and  when,  in  the  succeeding  age,  the  violence  of  heresy 
laid  waste  so  many  a  sanctuary,  and  the  children  of  Dominio 
were  the  foremost  to  suffer  for  a  cause  they  had  ever  been 
foremost  to  defend,  there  were  not  wanting  those  who,  by 
the  generous  sacrifice  of  their  lives,  gave  a  crowning  splen- 
dour of  martyrdom  to  the  glories  of  Cologne. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Dominic's  last  missionary  journey.  His  return  to  Bologna,  and 
illness.  His  death.  Kevelations  of  his  glory.  His  canoniza- 
tion and  the  translation  of  his  relics. " 

The  career  of  Dominic  was  now  fast  drawing  to  a  close ; 
but  five  years  had  been  granted  him  to  reap  the  harvest  of 
his  long  and  solitary  labours,  and  yet  short  as  the  time 
might  seem,  it  was  enough  j  he  had  lived  to  see  that  little 
seed,  planted  in  the  fields  of  Languedoc,  grown  into  a 
mighty  tree,  whose  branches  might  now  be  said  to  cover  the 
earth,  and  his  work  was  accomplished. 

The  chapter  had  broken  up  in  the  latter  part  of  May  ; 
on  the  30  th  of  the  same  month,  Dominic  received  an 
unusual  mark  of  honour  from  the  magistrates  of  Bologna, 
who  by  a  solemn  act  admitted  him  to  the  rights  of  a  citizen, 
with  the  privilege  of  entering  their  council  and  voting 
on  all  public  questions.  Nor  did  they  confine  this  ex- 
pression of  their  gratitude  to  his  person  alone,  but  declared 
it  to  be  henceforth  granted  to  all  his  successors  in  the 
supreme  government  of  the  order.  When  we  remember 
that  it  was  through  his  means  that  peace  had  been  restor- 
ed to  the  city  after  it  had  been  for  years  the  victim  of 
cruel  civil  dissensions,  we  feel  that  this  was  but  a  fitting 
and  natural  testimony  of  their  affection  from  the  citizens  to 
their  deliverer. 

In  the  following  month  Dominic  left  Bologna  on  his 
last  missionary  journey.  At  Venice  he  met  Cardinal 
Ugolino,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  the  great  convent 
of  SS.  John  and  Paul ;  some  say  that  this  visit  was 
undertaken  with  the  idea  that  some  opportunity  might 
still  present  itself  which  should  enable  him  to  pass  to 
the  countries  of  the  infidels,  a  plan  he  had  nearly  laid 
aside.  And  there  is  little  doubt  that  even  before  he 
lefc  Bologna  he  had  received  from  God  an  intimation  of 


208  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

his  approaching  release.  Blessed  Jordan  tells  us,  that, 
being  one  night  in  fervent  prayer,  an  unusually  powerful 
emotion  overwhelmed  him  with  the  desire  to  be  with 
God  ;  and  suddenly  a  youth  of  dazzling  beauty  appeared 
before  him,  and,  calling  him  by  name,  said  to  him,  "  Do- 
minic, my  well-beloved,  come  to  the  nuptials,  come." 
And  there  seemed  after  this  time  a  certain  change  about 
him,  as  though  he  knew  the  end  of  all  sadness  was  at 
hand.  As  he  sat  in  familiar  conversation  with  some  of 
the  students  and  clergy  of  the  university,  he  spoke  with 
his  usual  cheerfulness  and  sweetness  for  some  time, 
then,  rising  to  bid  them  farewell,  he  said,  "  You  see 
me  now  in  health,  but  before  the  next  feast  of  the 
Assumption  I  shall  be  with  God."  These  words  sur- 
prised those  who  heard  them  ;  for  indeed  there  were  no 
signs  of  approaching  sickness,  or  of  the  failure  of  that 
vigorous  and  manly  spirit  for  which  he  had  been  ever 
distinguished.  Nevertheless,  when  he  returned  to  Bo- 
logna after  a  few  weeks,  a  marked  change  was  visible. 
His  hair  was  thinning  on  his  temples,  the  excessive  heat 
of  the  summer  appeared  to  render  him  languid  and 
exhausted ;  and  yet,  for  all  he  was  evidently  suffering, 
he  never  relaxed  in  any  of  his  usual  labours.  It  was  the 
6th  of  August  :  he  had  travelled  from  Venice  to  Bologna, 
on  foot  as  usual,  stopping  at  Milan,  and  preaching  as  he 
went  ;  nay,  there  was  even  a  more  than  ordinary  zeal 
observable  in  his  conduct,  as  if  he  felt  the  time  was 
shortening,  and  desired  that  the  last  hour  should  find 
him  watching  and  at  work.  As  he  approached  Bologna, 
the  extraordinary  heat  affected  him  painfully.  It  was 
evening  when  he  reached  the  convent  of  S.  Nicholas  ;  in 
spite  of  his  fatigue,  he  remained  until  past  midnight  con- 
versing with  the  procurator  and  prior,  and  then  proceeded 
to  the  church,  where  he  continued  in  prayer  until  the 
hour  of  matins,  notwithstanding  their  earnest  entreaty 
that  for  once  he  would  consent  to  rest  during  the  office. 
As  soon  as  it  was  finished,  he  was  obliged  to  give  way  to 
the  violence  of  the  fever,  the  advances  of  which  he  had 
hitherto  disregarded  ;  they  begged  him  to  allow  himself 
a   little   repose   on    a   bed,    but   he   gently   refused,    and 


HIS   LAST   SICKNESS.  209 

desired  to  be  laid  on  a  sacking  which  was  stretched  upon 
the  ground.  His  head  was  swimming  with  the  pain  and 
heaviness  of  his  malady  ;  but  even  then  he  would  not 
spare  himself,  but  desired  the  novices  to  be  called  round 
him  that  he  might  speak  to  them,  for  what  he  felt  would 
be  the  last  time;  and  all  the  time  his  patience  and 
sweetness  were  never  interrupted ;  nor,  spite  of  the 
pallor  of  death  that  fast  overspread  his  noble  features, 
was  the  joy  and  cheerfulness  of  their  expression  for  a 
moment  changed. 

The  brethren  were  overwhelmed  with  affliction ;  and 
hoping  that  some  relief  might  be  afforded  by  a  change  of 
air,  they  took  him  to  Santa  Maria  dei  Monti,  situated 
on  a  hill  just  outside  the  city.  He  himself,  however,  well 
knowing  that  no  human  skill  could  avail  for  his  recovery, 
called  the  community  around  him  that  he  might  leave 
them  his  last  testament.  "Have  charity  in  your  hearts," 
he  said,  "practise  humility  after  the  example  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  make  your  treasure  and  riches  out  of  volun- 
tary poverty.  You  know  that  to  serve  God  is  to  reign ; 
but  you  must  serve  Him  in  love,  and  with  a  whole  heart. 
It  is  only  by  a  holy  life,  and  by  fidelity  to  your  rule,  that 
you  can  do  honour  to  your  profession."  It  was  thus  he 
continued  to  speak  as  he  lay  on  the  ground,  whilst  F. 
Ventura  and  the  other  brethren  stood  weeping  around 
him.  "  He  did  not  even  sigh,"  says  Ventura  in  his  evi- 
dence ;  "I  never  heard  him  speak  a  more  excellant  and 
edifying  sermon."  The  rector  of  Santa  Maria  made  a 
rather  unsuitable  interruption  to  this  scene,  by  suggest- 
ing that,  should  the  saint  die  in  that  convent,  he  would 
certainly  not  wish  to  be  carried  elsewhere  for  burial. 
This  obliged  the  brethren  to  refer  the  question  to  him- 
self, and  he  immediately  replied,  with  some  energy, 
"Look  well  to  it  that  I  am  buried  nowhere  but  under 
the  feet  of  my  brethren.  Carry  me  away  from  here,  and 
let  me  die  in  that  vineyard ;  then  no  one  will  be  able  to 
oppose  my  being  buried  in  our  own  church."  And 
akUough  they  almost  feared  that  he  would  expire  on 
the  road,  they  nevertheless  fulfilled  his  command,  and 
brought  him  back  to  S.  Nicholas,  carrying  him    through 

P 


210  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

the  fields  and  vineyards  wrapped  in  a  woollen  sacking, 
weeping  as  they  went.  Having  no  cell  of  his  own,  he 
was  taken  to  that  of  Brother  Moneta,  and  there  laid  on 
his  hed.  He  had  already  received  Extreme  Unction  at 
Santa  Maria  ;  and  after  remaining  quiet  for  about  an  hour, 
he  called  the  prior  to  him,  saying,  "  Prepare,"  (meaning 
for  the  recommendation  of  a  departing  soul) ;  but  as  they 
were  about  to  begin,  he  added,  "you  can  wait  a  little ;" 
and  it  was  perhaps  during  these  moments  that,  according 
to  the  revelation  made  to  S.  Bridget,  the  Mother  of 
God,  to  whom  he  had  ever  shown  himself  so  loyal  and 
loving  a  servant,  visibly  appeared  to  him,  and  promised 
that  she  would  never  withdraw  her  patronage  and  pro- 
tection from  his  order. 

He  was  now  sinking  so  rapidly,  that  they  saw  a  very 
short  time  would  rob  them  of  the  father  to  whom  their 
hearts  cleaved  with  so  overflowing  a  tenderness ;  all  were 
bathed  in  tears.  Rodolph  held  his  head,  and  gently 
wiped  the  death-sweat  from  his  forehead  ;  Ventura  bent 
over  him,  saying,  "Dear  father,  you  leave  us  desolate 
and  afflicted;  remember  us,  and  pray  for  us  to  God." 
Then  the  dying  saint  summoned  his  fast-failing  strength, 
and,  raising  his  hands  and  eyes  to  heaven,  he  said  in 
a  clear  and  distinct  voice ;  "  Holy  Father,  since  by  Thy 
mercy  I  have  ever  fulfilled  Thy  will,  and  have  kept  and 
preserved  those  whom  Thou  hast  given  me,  now  I  recom- 
mend them  to  Thee.  Do  Thou  keep  them:  do  Thou 
preserve  them."  Then,  turning  to  his  children,  he 
added  tenderly,  "Do  not  weep,  my  children;  I  shall 
be  more  useful  to  you  where  I  am  now  going,  than 
I  have  ever  been  in  this  life."  One  of  them  again 
asking  him  to  tell  them  exactly  where  he  would  be 
buried,  he  replied  in  his  former  words,  "Under  the  feet 
of  my  brethren."  He  seemed  then  for  the  first  time  to 
perceive  that  they  had  laid  him  on  a  kind  of  bed,  and 
obliged  them  to  remove  him,  and  place  him  on  ashes  on 
the  floor :  the  novices  left  the  room,  and  about  twelve  of 
the  elder  brethren  alone  remained  beside  him.  He  made 
his  general  confession  to  Father  Ventura,  and  when  it 
was  finished,  he  added,  addressing  himself  to  the  others, 


HIS   DEATH   AND    FUNERAL.  211 

"  Thanks  be  to  God,  whose  mercy  has  preserved  me  in 
perfect  virginity  until  this  day:  if  you  would  keep 
chastity,  guard  yourselves  from  all  dangerous  conver- 
sations, and  watch  over  your  own  hearts."  But,  an 
instant  afterwards,  a  kind  of  scruple  seemed  to  seize 
him  ;  and  he  turned  to  Ventura  with  a  touching  hu- 
mility, saying,  "  Father,  I  fear  lest  I  have  sinned  in 
speaking  of  this  grace  before  our  brethren."  The  re- 
commendation of  his  soul  now  began,  and  he  followed 
the  prayers  as  well  as  he  could ;  they  could  see  his  lips 
moving ;  and  as  they  recited  the  words,  "  Subvenite, 
Sancti  Dei;  occurrite,  angeli  Domini,  suscipientes  ani- 
mam  ejus,  offerentes  earn  in  conspectu  altissimi"  he 
stretched  his  arms  to  Heaven,  and  expired;  being  in  the 
51st  year  of  his  age. 

His  weeping  children  stood  for  awhile  around  the  body, 
without  venturing  to  touch  the  sacred  remains ;  but  as 
it  became  necessary  to  prepare  for  their  interment,  they 
began  to  strip  off  the  tunic  in  which  he  died,  and  which 
was  not  his  own,  but  one  belonging  to  Brother  Moneta; 
and  having  done  so,  their  tears  of  tenderness  flowed 
afresh,  for  they  discovered  an  iron  chain  tightly  bound 
round  his  waist,  and  from  the  scars  and  marks  it  had 
produced,  it  was  evident  that  it  had  been  worn  for  many 
years.  Rodolph  removed  it  with  the  utmost  reverence, 
and  it  was  afterwards  delivered  to  blessed  Jordan,  his 
successor  in  the  government  of  the  order,  who  kept  it  as 
a  precious  relic.  It  was  a  singular  and  appropriate  cir- 
cumstance that  the  funeral  obsequies  of  this  great  man 
should  be  performed  by  one  who  had  ever  during  life 
shown  himself  Ids  truest  and  most  faithful  friend.  Car- 
dinal Ugolino  Conti  came  from  Venice  to  Bologna  to 
preside  at  a  cermony  which,  in  spite  of  their  orphanhood 
and  desolation,  his  children  could  scarcely  feel  a  melan- 
choly one.  Ugolino  claimed  this  ofhce  as  his  right,  and 
it  was  he  who  celebrated  the  funeral  mass.  The  people  of 
Bologna,  who  had  shown  an  extraordinary  sympathy  with 
the  friars  during  the  last  days  of  Dominic's  illness,  and  had 
made  continual  prayers  for  their  benefactor's  recovery, 
followed  the  procession  in  a  dense  body.  Patriarchs, 
p  2 


212  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

bishops,  and  abbots  from  all  the  neighbouring  country 
swelled  the  train.  Among  them  was  one  who  had  been  a 
dear  and  familar  friend  of  the  departed  saint,  Albert, 
prior  of  the  convent  of  S.  Catherine  in  Bologna,  a  man 
of  great  piety  and  warm  affections.  As  he  followed, 
sorrowful,  and  bathed  in  tears,  he  observed  that  the  friars 
chanted  the  Psalms  with  a  certain  joyfulness  and  calm  of 
spirit ;  and  this  had  such  an  effect  on  him,  that  he  too 
stayed  his  tears  and  began  to  sing  with  them.  And  then 
he  began  to  reflect  on  the  misery  of  this  present  state, 
and  the  folly  of  mourning  it  as  an  evil,  when  a  holy  soul 
was  released  from  bondage  and  sent  to  the  presence  of 
his  God.  With  this  thought  in  his  heart,  he  went  up,  in 
an  impulse  of  devout  affection,  to  the  sacred  body,  and 
bending  over  it  and  conquering  his  grief,  he  embraced 
his  dead  friend,  and  congratulated  him  on  his  blessedness. 
When  he  rose,  an  emotion  of  wonderful  happiness  was 
observable  on  his  countenance.  He  went  up  to  the  prior 
of  S.  Nicholas,  and  taking  him  by  the  hand,  "  Dear  father, 
rejoice  with  me,"  he  said  ;  "  Master  Dominic  has  even  now 
spoken  to  me,  and  assured  me  that  before  the  year  is  ended 
we  shall  be  both  re-united  in  Christ."  And  the  event 
proved  his  words,  for  before  the  close  of  the  year  Albert 
was  with  his  friend. 

Nor  was  this  the  only  revelation  of  the  blessedness  of 
Dominic  which  was  granted  to  his  friends.  At  the  same 
hour  in  which  he  expired,  Father  Gnallo  Romanoni,  prior 
of  the  convent  of  Friars  Preachers  in  Brescia,  fell  asleep, 
leaning  against  the  bell-tower  of  his  church,  and  he 
seemed  to  see  two  ladders  let  down  from  an  opening  in 
the  sky  above  him.  At  the  top  of  one  stood  our  Lord, 
and  His  blessed  Mother  was  at  the  summit  of  the  other. 
Angels  were  going  up  and  down  them,  and  at  their  foot 
was  seated  one  in  the  habit  of  the  order,  but  his  face  was 
covered  with  his  hood,  after  the  fashon  in  which  the 
friars  were  wont  to  cover  the  face  of  the  dead  when  they 
are  carried  out  for  burial.  The  ladders  were  drawn  up 
into  heaven,  and  he  saw  the  unknown  friar  received  into 
the  company  of  the  angels,  surrounded  by  a  dazzling 
glory,    and   borne  to   the    very    feet   of   Jesus.      Guallo 


REVELATIONS    OF   HIS    SANCTITY.  213 

awoke,  not  knowing  what  the  vision  could  signify;  and 
hastening  to  Bologna,  he  found  that  his  great  patriarch 
had  breathed  his  last  at  the  very  moment  in  which  it  had 
appeared  to  him,  namely,  six  in  the  evening;  and  he 
judged  it  as  a  certain  token  that  the  soul  of  Dominic  had 
been  taken  up  to  heaven.  Moreover,  on  that  same  day, 
the  6  th  of  August,  Brother  Raoul  had  gone  from  Borne 
to  Tivoli  in  company  with  Tancred,  the  prior  of  Santa 
Sabina,  and  at  the  hour  of  Sext  he  celebrated  mass,  and 
made  an  earnest  memento  for  his  holy  founder,  whom  he 
knew  to  be  then  lying  in  the  extremity  of  sickness  at 
Bologna.  And  as  he  did  so,  he  seemed  to  see  the  great 
road  reaching  out  of  that  city,  and  walking  along  it  was 
the  figure  of  Dominic  between  two  men  of  venerable 
aspect,  crowned  with  a  golden  coronet,  and  dazzling  with 
light.  Nor  was  this  the  last  of  these  visions.  A 
student  of  the  university,  warmly  attached  to  the  saint, 
who  had  been  prevented  by  business  from  assisting  at 
his  funeral,  saw  him  on  the  following  night  in  a  state  of 
surpassing  glory,  as  it  seemed  to  him,  seated  in  a  parti- 
cular spot  in  the  church  of  S.  Nicholas.  The  vision  was 
so  distinct  that,  as  he  gazed  on  it,  he  exclaimed,  "How, 
Master  Dominic,  are  you  still  here?"  "Yes,"  was  the 
reply,  "I  live,  indeed,  since  God  has  deigned  to  grant 
me  an  eternal  life  in  heaven."  When  he  went  to  S. 
Nicholas  on  the  following  morning,  he  found  the  place  of 
sepulture  was  the  same  indicated  in  his  dream. 

We  shall  not  attempt  the  task  of  transcribing  the 
miracles  which  rendered  the  place  of  his  rest  glorious; 
they  already  fill  volumes  entirely  devoted  to  the  purpose 
of  racording  them.  His  brethren  of  Bologna  have  been 
severely  blamed  by  many  authors,  because  in  spite  of 
this  accumulation  of  prodigies  and  Divne  favours,  they 
allowed  the  body  to  remain  under  the  plain  flagstone 
where  it  had  been  placed  by  the  care  of  Rodolph  of 
Faenza,  without  any  sign  of  honour  to  distinguish  it  to 
the  eye.  And  what  is  more,  in  spite  of  the  crowds  who 
flocked  thither  day  and  night  on  pilgrimage,  and  whose 
gratitude  for  the  graces  poured  out  on  them  with  such 
abundance  was  attested  by  a  very  forest  of  waxen  images, 


214  LIFE   CF   S.    DOMINIC. 

and  other  similar  votive  offerings  which  they  hung  over 
the  spot,  no  move  was  made  by  the  authorities  of  the 
order  to  obtain  the  canonization  of  the  saint.  This 
conduct  has,  we  have  said,  been  censured  as  a  culpable 
neglect ;  but  we  may  perhaps  be  permitted  to  instance  it 
as  an  example  of  that  simplicity  and  modesty  which 
Dominic  left  behind  him  as  a  heritage  to  his  children. 
The  answer  of  one  of  the  friars,  when  questioned  on  the 
subject,  may  be  taken  as  a  sample  of  the  spirit  of  the 
whole  body.  "What  need  for  canonization?"  he  said; 
"  the  holiness  of  Master  Dominic  is  known  to  God:  it 
matters  little  if  it  be  declared  publicly  by  man."  A 
feeling  similar  to  this  has  been  hereditary  in  the  order, 
and  has  been  the  cause  why  the  early  annals  of  many  of 
their  most  illustrious  saints  are  so  barren  of  details. 
They  never  thought  of  providing  for  the  applause  of  man  ; 
and  brilliant  as  is  the  renown  of  the  Dominican  institute 
in  the  history  of  the  Church,  it  may  perhaps  be  said  that 
its  greatest  works  have  never  been  made  manifest. 

It  was  chance,  or  rather  necessity,  that  at  length 
obliged  the  religious  of  S.  Nicholas  to  undertake  the  first 
translation  of  the  sacred  relics.  The  convent  had  to  be 
enlarged  on  account  of  the  ever-increasing  size  of  the 
community,  and  the  church  stood  in  need  of  repair  and 
alteration.  The  tomb  of  Dominic  had,  therefore,  to  be 
disturbed,  and  to  do  so,  the  Pope's  permission  was  first 
required.  Honorius  III.  was  dead,  and  his  successor  in 
the  papal  chair  was  none  other  than  Ugolino  Conti,  who 
had  been  consecrated  Pope  under  the  name  of  Gre- 
gory IX.  He  acceded  to  the  request  with  joy,  sharply 
reproving  the  friars  for  their  long  negligence.  The 
solemn  translation  accordingly  took  place  on  the  24th  of 
May,  1233,  during  the  Whitsundide  chapter  of  the  order, 
then  assembled  at  Bologna  under  blessed  Jordan  of 
Saxony,  who  had  succeeded  his  great  patriarch  in  the 
government.  The  Pope  wished  to  have  attended  in  per- 
son at  this  ceremony,  but,  being  prevented  doing  so, 
deputed  the  archbishop  of  Ravenna  to  represent  him,  in 
company  with  a  crowd  of  other  distinguished  prelates. 
Three  hundred  Friars  Preachers,  from  all  countries,  were 


TRANSLATION   OF   HIS  RELICS.  215 

assembled  to  assist  at  this  function,  not  without  a  secret 
fear  lest  the  sacred  remains  should  be  found  to  have 
suffered  change ;  and  this  doubt  as  to  the  result  of  the 
translation  agitated  many  of  them  during  the  day  and 
night  preceding  that  on  which  it  was  appointed  to  take 
place,  with  a  painful  emotion.  Among  those  who  showed 
the  greatest  disturbance  was  one  named  Brother  Nicholas 
of  Giovenazzo ;  but  it  pleased  God  to  re-assure  him,  and 
all  who  shared  his  timidity,  by  a  special  revelation.  For, 
as  he  prayed,  there  appeared  to  him  a  man  of  majestic 
appearance,  who  spoke  these  words  in  a  elear  and  joyous 
tone :  "  Hie  accipiet  benedictionem  a  Domino,  et  miseri- 
cordiam  a  Deo  salutari  suo."  And  he  understood  them 
to  signify  the  blessedness  enjoyed  by  S.  Dominic,  and  to 
be  a  pledge  of  the  honour  which  God  would  cause  to  be 
shown  to  his  relics. 

On  the  24th  of  May  the  ceremony  of  translation  took 
place.  The  general,  and  all  the  chief  fathers  of  the 
general  chapter  then  assembled  at  Bologna,  together 
with  the  bishops,  prelates,  and  magistrates,  who  had  come 
to  be  present  on  the  occasion,  stood  round  in  silence 
whilst  the  grave  was  opened.  Bodolph  of  Faenza,  who 
still  held  the  office  of  procurator,  and  who  had  been  so 
dear  a  son  to  the  great  patriarch,  was  the  first  to  com- 
mence raising  the  stone.  Hardly  had  he  begun  to 
remove  the  mortar  and  earth  that  lay  beueath,  when  an 
extraordinary  odour  was  perceptible,  which  increased  in 
power  and  sweetness  as  they  dug  deeper,  until  at  length, 
when  the  coffin  appeared,  and  was  raised  to  the  surface 
of  the  grave,  the  whole  church  was  filled  with  the  per- 
fume, as  though  from  the  burning  of  some  precious  and 
costly  gums.  The  bystanders  knelt  on  the  pavement, 
shedding  tears  of  emotion  as  the  lid  was  raised,  when 
there  were  once  more  exposed  to  their  eyes,  unchanged, 
and  with  the  same  look  of  sweetness  and  majesty  they 
had  ever  worn  in  life,  the  features  of  their  glorious  father. 
Cantipratano,  in  his  second  book  De  Apibus,  relates  a 
singular  circumstance,  which  has  been  repeated  by  Mal- 
venda.  He  says  that  among  the  fathers  present  at  the 
ceremony  was  John  of  Vicenza,  whose  singular  zeal  and 


216  LIFE   OF    S.    DOMINIC. 

sanctity  had  always  rendered  him  specially  dear  to  S. 
Dominic.  As  he  stood  by  the  body,  he  made  way  to  give 
place  to  William,  bishop  of  Modena ;  but  immediately  the 
sacred  remains  were  seen  to  turn  in  the  direction  in  which 
he  stood.  His  humility  moved  him  to  change  his  place 
again,  and  the  same  thing  was  observed ;  and  it  seemed  as 
though,  on  this  the  first  day  when  the  public  honour  of  the 
Church  were  about  to  be  paid  to  the  holy  patriarch,  he  was 
willing  by  this  token  to  show  that  he  counted  his  chiefest 
glory  to  be  less  in  such  honours  than  in  the  sanctity  of  his 
children. 

It  was  blessed  Jordan  who  raised  the  body  of  the 
beloved  father  from  the  coffin,  and  reverently  laid  it  in 
a  new  case.  Eight  days  afterwards,  this  was  once  more 
opened  to  satisfy  the  devotion  of  some  nobles  and  others 
who  had  been  present  on  the  previous  occasion;  then  it 
was  that  Jordan,  taking  the  sacred  head  between  his 
hands,  kissed  it,  while  tears  of  tenderness  flowed  from 
his  eyes ;  and,  so  holding  it  in  his  arms,  he  desired  all 
the  fathers  of  the  chapter  to  approach  and  gaze  at  it  for 
the  last  time:  one  after  another  they  came,  and  kissed 
the  features  that  still  smiled  on  them  like  a  father;  all 
were  conscious  of  the  same  extraordinary  odour;  it  re- 
mained on  the  hands  and  clothes  of  all  who  touched,  or 
came  near  the  body;  nor  was  this  the  case  merely  at  the 
time  of  the  translation.  Flaminius,  who  lived  300  years 
afterwards,  thus  writes  in  1527 :  "  This  divine  odour  of 
which  we  have  spoken,  adheres  to  the  relics  even  to  this 
present  day." 

We  shall  not  pause  to  give  a  detail  of  those  abundant 
miracles  which  every  day  shed  fresh  glory  round  the 
sepulchre  of  S.  Dominic.  They  were  scarcely  needed,  one 
may  say,  as  attestations  of  his  sanctity  ;  it  seemed  the 
universal  feeling,  both  of  prelates  and  people,  that  his 
canonization  should  be  no  longer  deferred.  The  bull  to 
that  effect  was  published  in  the  July  of  1234;  and  it 
was  the  singular  happiness  of  Pope  Gregory  IX.,  who 
had  been  bound  in  such  close  ties  of  friendship  to  the 
founders  of  the  two  orders  of  the  Friars  Minors  and 
Friars    Preachers,   that    both    should   be   raised   to   the 


FESTIVALS   IN   HIS   HONOUR.  217 

altars  of  the  Church  by  his  means,  and  during  his  pontifi- 
cate. His  well-known  expression  with  regard  to  Dominic 
has  been  preserved  to  us  by  Stefano  Salanco ;  "  I  have  no 
more  doubt  of  the  sanctity  of  this  man,  than  I  have  of  that 
of  S.  Peter  or  S.  Paul." 

Three  festivals  have  been  consecrated  to  the  memory 
of  S.  Dominic  :  the  4th  of  August,  on  which  his  death  is 
celebrated  (instead  of  the  6th,  already  occupied  by  the  feast 
of  the  Transfiguration) ;  the  24th  of  May,  in  memory  of 
the  translation  of  his  relics;  and  lastly,  the  15th  of  Sep- 
tember, in  honour  of  the  miraculous  picture  of  Suriano. 
An  obscurity  rests  over  the  origin  of  this  picture  ;  or  perhaps 
we  should  rather  say  that  the  Church,  whilst  granting  the 
festival,  and  bearing  her  willing  testimony  to  the  extra- 
ordinary Divine  favours  shown  to  the  devotion  of  the 
pilgrims  of  Suriano,  has  been  silent  as  to  the  history  of  the 
painting  itself.  It  first  appeared  in  the  convent  in  the  year 
1530,  and  did  not  attract  much  popular  regard  until  the 
beginning  of  the  following  century,  when  the  miracles  and 
conversions  wrought  at  Suriano  made  it  a  place  of  pilgrimage 
to  the  whole  world.  After  a  number  of  briefs  granted  by 
sucessive  pontiffs,  and  a  severe  examination  of  the  facts., 
Benedict  XIII.  at  length  appointed  the  15th  of  September 
to  be  observed  through  the  whole  order,  in  commemoration 
of  the  graces  received  before  this  remarkable  picture. 

A  second  transalation  of  the  relics  of  S.  Dominic  took 
place  in  1267;  but  the  beautiful  sculptures  which  now 
adorn  his  place  of  burial,  and  which  are  probably  the  first, 
both  in  design  and  execution,  among  similar  works  of  art, 
were  not  placed  over  his  tomb  until  1473,  being  the  chef- 
docuvre  of  Nicholas  de  Bari. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Dominic's  writings.  His  supposed  defence  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception.  His  portraits  by  Fra  Angelico,  and  in  the  veraea 
of  Dante.    Observations  of  the  Order. 

"We  should  have  wished,"  says  Polidro  in  the  con- 
cluding chapter  of  his  life,  "to  have  been  able  to  put 
before  the  eyes  of  our  readers  all  that  S.  Dominic 
ever  wrote  in  defence  of  the  Catholic  religion,  for  the 
instruction  of  his  disciples,  in  order  that  they  might 
collect  from  these  writings  yet  greater  and  more  copious 
illustrations  of  his  virtues.  But  there  remains  to  us 
nothing,  except  the  constitutions  of  his  order  (added 
to  the  rule  of  S.  Austin),  the  sentence  of  reconciliation 
to  the  Church  of  Pontio  Rogerio,  and  the  faculty  granted 
to  Raymond  William  of  Altaripa,  to  entertain  the  here- 
tic William  Uguccione  in  his  house.  It  is,  however, 
certain  that  he  wrote  many  letters  to  his  brethren, 
especially  exhorting  them  to  the  study  of  the  Sacred 
Scriptures,  but  none  of  these  now  remain ;  that  ad- 
dressed to  the  Polish  friars,  and  bearing  his  name,  not 
being  genuine."  We  have  already  spoken  of  the  letter 
here  alluded  to,  and,  as  may  be  remembered,  have 
mentioned  that  many  of  the  best  and  most  cautious 
writers  have  taken  a  more  favourable  view  of  its  claims 
to  authenticity.  We  shall  not,  therefore,  again  enter 
on  the  question  in  this  place.  The  commentaries  of 
S.  Dominic  on  the  Epistles  of  S.  Paul  were  still  extant 
in  the  time  of  Giovanni  Colonna  ;  and  when  we  re- 
member how  these  Epistles  formed  the  constant  and 
favourite  reading  of  the  Saint,  we  shall  know  how  to 
regret  the  loss  of  their  exposition  from  the  hand  of  one 
who  followed  so  closely  in  the  footsteps  of  S.  Paul,  and 
seemed  in  a  special  manner  to  have  borne  his  mantle 
and  received  his  spirit. 


WRITINGS   OF   THE   SAINT.  219 

The  lectures  he  gave  in  the  apostolic  palace  on  these 
same  Epistles,  together  with  the  conferences  given  at 
Bologna,  on  the  Psalms  and  the  canonical  Epistles,  and 
on  the  Gospel  of  S.  Matthew,  are  also  referred  to  by 
Lusitano  as  still  existing  in  his  day;  but  all  have  since 
been  lost,  and  it  is  the  misfortune  of  the  order  and  of  the 
Church  that,  with  the  exceptions  mentioned  above,  nothing 
of  the  writings  of  this  great  man  now  remains. 

There  is  one  book,  the  mention  of  which  occurs  in  one 
of  the  most  striking  anecdotes  of  his  life,  and  which, 
could  it  be  restored  to  us,  would  naturally  be  held  iu 
peculiar  veneration,  not  merely  for  the  sake  of  its  author, 
but  also  for  that  token  of  the  Divine  approbation  which 
gave  to  its  doctrines  and  contents  even  more  than  the 
authority  of  a  saint.  We  refer  to  the  book  written  by 
Dominic  in  confutation  of  the  Albigensian  heresies,  and 
which,  thrice  cast  into  the  fire  remained  uninjured,  and 
was  even  flung  out  of  the  burning  heap  by  the  flames 
which  refused  to  touch  it.  Although  this  book  is  lost  to 
us,  together  with  the  other  writings  of  S.  Dominic,  there 
exists  a  tradition  concerning  its  contents  which  is  of  par- 
ticular interest  to  us  at  this  time;  and  which,  without 
passing  any  judgment  as  to  its  authenticity,  we  will  give, 
as  it  is  to  be  found  alluded  to  by  several  writers.  The 
following  extract  is  from  a  letter  of  Father  Alessandro 
Santo  Canale,  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  published  in  a 
collection  of  letters  on  the  Immaculate  Conception,  at 
Palermo,  in  the  year  1742.  He  says,  "All  the  regular 
orders,  following  the  inclination  of  the  Holy  Church  their 
mother,  have  always  shown  a  courageous  zeal  in  defence 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception.  And  I  say  all;  because 
one  of  the  most  earnest  in  favour  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception  has  been  the  most  learned  and  most  holy 
Dominican  order,  even  from  its  very  first  beginning, — I 
mean  even  from  the  time  of  the  great  patriarch  S. 
Dominic,  in  the  dispute  which  he  held  with  the  Albi- 
genses  at  Toulouse,  with  so  much  glory  to  the  Church 
and  to  himself.  Almost  from  the  time  of  S.  Dominic 
down  to  the  present  day,  there  has  been  preserved  in  the 
public  archives  of  Barcelona  a  very  ancient  tablet,  whereon 


220  LIFE   OF   S.    DOMINIC. 

is  inscribed  the  famous  dispute  of  the  saint  with  the 
Albigenses,  and  the  triumph  of  the  truth,  confirmed  by 
the  miracle  of  the  fire,  into  which,  at  the  request  of  the 
heretics,  the  saint  having  thrown  his  book,  when  that  of 
the  Albigenses  was  destroyed,  his  remained  uninjured." 
Of  which  book  this  inscription  thus  speaks : — "  Against 
these  errors  S.  Dominic  wrote  a  book  on  the  Flesh  of 
Christ.  And  the  Albigenses,  rising  up  furiously  against 
the  said  blessed  Dominic,  said  that  the  Virgin  was  con- 
ceived in  original  sin.  And  blessed  Dominic  replied, 
even  as  it  is  contained  in  his  book,  that  what  they  said 
was  not  true ;  because  the  Virgin  Mary  was  she  of  whom 
the  Holy  Ghost  says  by  Solomon,  '  Thou  art  all  fair,  my 
beloved,  and  there  is  no  stain  in  thee.'  "  In  this  book  of 
S.  Dominic's  on  the  Flesh  of  Christ,  chap,  xvii.,  there  are, 
among  other  passages,  the  following  words,  quoted  from  the 
Acts  of  S.  Andrew  : — "  Even  as  the  first  Adam  was  made 
of  virgin  earth,  which  had  never  been  cursed,  so  also  was 
it  fitting  for  the  second  Adam  to  be  made  in  like  man- 
ner."* It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  the  book  was  still 
extant  at  the  time  of  this  inscription,  and  that  the  above 
passages  were  quoted  from  it.  Nor  is  it  in  any  way  sur- 
prising or  difficult  for  us  to  believe,  that  Dominic, 
educated  in  the  schools  of  Palencia,  should  have  been  a 
firm  and  undoubting  defender  of  that  doctrine  which  was, 
so  to  speak,  the  heritage  of  Spanish  theologians. 

Two  men  have  been  given  to  the  world,  each  of  them 
foremost  in  the  ranks  of  genius,  who  have  in  different 
ways  left  us  the  living  portraits  of  S.  Dominic.  The  first 
is  his  own  son  Angelico,  who,  steeped  in  the  spirit  of  his 
order,  drew  its  founder,  not  indeed  according  to  the 
material  likeness  of  flesh  and  blood, — for  that  he  had  not 

*  "According  to  creditable  opinion,"  says  Mon seigneur  Parisis, 
"  S.  Dominic  professed  in  very  express  terms  his  belief  in  the 
Immaculate  Conception.  It  is  even  said  that  he  committed  it  to 
writing  in  a  certain  book,  which  the  heretics  required  him  to  cast 

into  the  flames,  &c It  contained  (it  is  said)  in  the  following 

terms  the  precious  text  of  the  Acts  of  the  Martyrdom  of  S.  An. 
drew."  And  he  proceeds  to  quote  the  words  given  above — De- 
monstration, de  VImmaculaUe  Conception,  de  la  B.  Vierge  Marie,  Mer$ 
ds  DUu. 


HIS   PORTRAITURE.  221 

seen, — but  according  to  that  truer  portraiture  which  is 
the  type  of  the  spiritual  man.  The  idea  of  S.  Dominic  as 
it  came  before  the  eye  of  Angelico  in  hours  of  prayer  and 
mystic  contemplation,  has  been  left  us  on  a  thousand 
frescoed  walls,  in  every  attitude  and  under  every  variety. 
Amidst  them  all,  we  see  it  is  the  same  idea,  the  same 
man  ;  he  is  there  in  his  joyousness,  his  majestic  beauty, 
and  his  life  of  prayer.  Always  noble,  always  simple, 
with  his  bright  star  upon  his  forehead,  and  the  lily  in  his 
hand,  he  stands  among  a  crowd  of  saints  and  angels, 
beneath  the  Redeemer's  Cross,  or  by  the  side  of  the 
Madonna's  starry  throne  and  everywhere  we  recognize 
in  him  our  old  familiar  friend  ;  him  who  drew  all  men  to 
him  by  his  winning  courtesy,  and  from  whose  brow  there 
went  out  that  mystic  splendour  which  attracted  all  who 
gazed  upon  it. 

The  other  painter  is  a  poet ;  the  poet  of  Italy  and  of 
the  middle  ages.  If  Dante  drew  his  inspiration  from 
the  fount  of  human  imaginations,  it  was  to  the  order  of 
S.  Dominic  that  he  owed  the  religious  character  in  which 
it  has  been  clothed.  The  poetry  of  Dante  is  to  poetry 
what  the  paintings  of  Angelico  are  to  art ;  and  indeed 
the  new  impulse  his  writings  gave  to  the  early  Christian 
artists,  exhibits  the  close  harmony  that  exists  between 
their  works  and  his.  And  if  he  might  thus  claim  brother- 
hood with  the  Angelic  painter,  to  the  Angelic  doctor  he 
was  bound  by  yet  stricter  ties.  His  theology  is  that  of 
S.  Thomas  ;  and  to  understand  the  Divina  Commedia,  we 
must  first  read  the  Summa.  Thus  we  may  understand 
how  it  is  that  when  he  comes  to  draw  the  portrait  of 
"  the  holy  athlete  for  the  Christian  faith,"  as  he  terms 
S.  Dominic,  his  words  flow  forth  with  such  a  power  of 
vivid  and  inspired  delineation. 

Do  we  not  feel  that  some  one  greater  than  the  herd  of 
common  men  is  drawing  near  us,  when  the  great  master 
prepares  us  for  his  coming  by  those  few  low  tones  of 
sweetest  harmony  which  he  draws  from  his  lyre  when  he 
he  speaks  of  the  founder  of  the  Friars  Preachers.  "  There," 
he  says,  "  where  the  gentle  breeze  whispers  and  waves 
among  the  young  flowers  that  blossom  over   the  fields  of 


222  LIFE   OP   S.   DOMINIC. 

Europe, — not  far  from  that  shore  where  break  the  waves 
behind  which  the  big  sun  sinks  at  eventide,  is  the  fortunate 
Calarogo  ;  and  there  was  born  the  loyal  lover  of  the  Christian 
faith,  the  holy  athlete,  gentle  to  his  friends  and  terrible  to 
the  enemies  of  truth.  They  called  him  Dominic  ;  and  he 
was  the  ambassador  and  the  friend  of  Christ  ;  and  his 
first  love  was  for  the  first  council  that  Jesus  gave.  His 
nurse  found  him  often  lying  on  the  ground,  as  though  he 
had  said,  (  It  was  for  this  I  came.'  It  was  because  of 
love  of  Divine  truth,  and  not  for  the  world,  that  he 
became  a  great  doctor  in  a  short  time  ;  and  he  came 
before  the  throne  of  Peter,  not  to  seek  dispensations,  or 
tithes,  or  the  best  benefices,  or  the  patrimony  of  the  poor  ; 
but  only  for  freedom  to  combat  against  the  errors  of  the 
world  by  the  word  of  God.  Then,  armed  with  his  doc- 
trine and  his  mighty  will,  he  went  forth  to  his  apostolic 
ministry,  even  as  some  mountain  torrent  precipitates 
itself  from  its  rocky  height.  Ani  the  impetuosity  of 
that  great  flood,  throwing  itself  on  the  heresies  that 
stemmed  its  way,  flowed  on  far  and  wide,  and  broke  into 
many  a  stream  that  watered  the  garden  of  the  Church." 

We  must  apologize  to  our  readers  for  giving  the  glorious 
poetry  of  Dante  in  weak  and  ineffective  prose  ;  yet  perhaps 
less  weak  and  less  ineffective  than  the  attempt  to  render  it 
into  such  verse  as  a  translator  can  give.  Tf  e  have  but  re- 
minded them  of  the  passage,  that  they  may  turn  to  it  in  the 
original  ;  for  a  sketch  of  the  character  of  S.  Dominic  seems 
incomplete  without  an  allusion,  at  least,  to  the  writer  who 
has  perhaps  drawn  him  best. 

We  should  be  departing  from  the  plan  we  have  proposed 
to  ourselves,  if  we  detained  our  readers  with  any  sum- 
mary and  critical  examination  of  the  character  of  S. 
Dominic's  virtues,  which  is  usual  in  lives  of  more  pre- 
tension, and  written  with  a  different  object  to  this. 
But  we  have  sought  only  to  place  this  great  saint  before 
our  readers  in  a  popular  light,  trusting  that  he  might 
speak  to  them  himself  in  the  story  of  his  life  ;  and  that 
something  of  that  charm  of  gracious  joyousness  on  whieh 
his  old  biographers  are  so  eloquent,  might  win  them  to  a 
closer   study  of    one   whose    order    has   been   termed  so 


HIS   CHARACTER.  223 

empnatically,  "  The  Order  of  Truth;"  and  whose  spirit 
is,  even  in  our  own  day,  as  young  and  vigorous  as  ever. 
If  there  be  one  saint  who  has  greater  claims  than  another 
on  the  love  and  veneration '  of  the  Church,  struggling  as 
she  is  in  our  own  country  against  the  high  tide  of  heresy, 
it  is  S.  Dominic.  And  if  we  would  learn  the  way  to 
fight  her  battles,  we  can  scarcely  do  better  than  sit  at  the 
feet  of  one  who  knew  so  well  how  to  be  at  the  same  time 
the  enemy  of  heresy  and  the  lover  of  souls.  That  won- 
derful intelligence,  which  was  able  to  unite  so  rigid  a  disci- 
pline with  the  flexibility  which  is  to  be  found  in  what  his 
great  daughter  S,  Catherine  calls  "  the  free  and  joyous 
spirit  of  his  order,  "*  had  it  been  engaged  in  prescribing  for 
the  wants  of  England  in  our  own  day,  could  scarcly  have 
devised  a  fitter  rule  for  those  who  would  labour  in 
her  cause. 

The  austerity  of  S.  Dominic  was  for  himself  and  his 
own  children;  but  wherever  there  was  the  question  of 
saving  souls,  we  find  only  the  gay  sweet  manner  that 
men  called  magic,  because  they  could  not  resist  it  ;  the 
familiarity  that  mixed  with  the  people,  and  would  let 
them  cut  his  very  habit  to  pieces  sooner  than  drive  them 
from  his  side;  the  tenderness  that  never  wept  but  for 
the  sufferings  or  the  sins  of  others,  and  which,  as  the 
Castilians  said,  made  even  penance  itself  seem  easy,  when 
it  was  preached  to  them  by  Master  Dominic.  All 
labour  came  alike  to  him,  and  the  rule  that  at  other  times 
laid  such  an  iron  grasp  upon  its  subjects,  relaxed  in  a 
moment  when  the  work  of  God  was  to  be  done.  Then, 
too,  how  wonderful  it  is  to  find,  along  with  all  this  popu- 
larity and  preaching,  the  theological  spirit  never  separated 
from  any  part  of  his  design,  building  up  every  word  on  the 
foundation  of  Catholic  truth,  and  aiming  yet  more  at 
instruction  than  either  eloquence  or  exortation.  The 
Friars  Preachers  were  pre-eminently  to  be  Friars  Teachers  ; 
and  from  the  mysteries  of  the  Rosary  up  to  the  Summa 
of  8.  Thomas,  we  may  see  the  same  principle  of 
making  a  solid  knowledge  of  Christian  truth  the  ground- 

*  "  La  sua  religiono,  tutta  larga,  tutta  gioconda."— Treatise  on 
Obedience,  chap.  1.5S. 


224  LIFE   OF   S.   DOMINIC. 

work  of  Christian  devotion.  Thus  the  most  popular  orde* 
was  at  the  same  time  the  most  learned  ;  and  whilst 
their  portable  pulpits  were  erected  in  the  streets  of  London 
and  Oxford,  and  surrounded  by  the  sermon-loving  English 
crowds  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  the  men  who  filled 
them,  and  knew  how  to  win  the  ear  and  rouse  the  conscience 
of  their  rude  and  ignorant  audience,  were  the  same  who 
filled  the  chairs  of  the  university  with  so  briliant  a  renown, 
that  they  may  be  said  to  have  commenced  a  new  era  in 
theological  studies. 

This  mixed  character,  which  is  so  distinctive  a  feature 
of  the  Dominican  rule,  gives  it  peculiar  capabilities  in 
a  country  crowded  with  population,  and  crying  aloud  to  be 
taught.  It  has  its  sermons  and  rosaries  for  the  poor,  and 
its  theology  for  the  learned  ;  for  sin  and  suffering  of  all 
kinds,  and  in  all  shapes,  there  is  the  tenderness  of  that  most 
gentle  and  fatherly  heart  of  its  great  founder,  who  when  he 
sold  his  books  for  his  starving  countrymen,  and  was  ready 
to  sell  his  own  life  also,  left  to  his  children  in  those  two 
actions  the  rule  of  charity  which  he  would  have  them  fol- 
low as  their  guide. 

Of  all  the  founders  of  religious  orders,  it  may  be  said  that 
they  live  again  in  the  history  of  their  institutes  ;  but  with 
S.  Dominic  this  perpetual  presence  among  his  followers  in 
all  ages  was  the  last  legacy  of  his  dying  lips.  And  we  can 
scarcely  close  this  notice  of  his  life  with  fitter  words  than 
those  which,  the  Church  places  on  our  own,  when  she 
teaches  us  to  invoke  him : — 

"  Thou  didst  promise  after  death  thou  wouldest  be  help- 
ful to  thy  brethren.  Fulfil,  0  father,  what  thou  hast  said, 
and  assist  us  by  thy  prayers." 


-§- 


PART  II. 

THE  DOMINICAN  ORDER. 


— zoo — ■ 


CHAPTER    I. 

Progress  of  the  Order  after  the  death,  of  S.  Dominic.  Missions. 
Rise  of  the  Dominican  School  of  theology.  Albert  the  Great 
and  S.  Thomas.  The  universities.  Influence  of  the  Order  on 
language,  poetry,  and  society.  S.  Raymund  Pennafort.  In- 
fluence on  other  religious  bodies. 

We  should  scarcely  be  completing  the  work  we  pro- 
posed to  ourselves  in  these  pages,  were  we  to  leave  our 
readers  without  some  account  of  the  after-destinies  of 
the  Order  of  Preachers.  The  life  of  a  founder  must 
be  necessarily  imperfect  without  some  notice  of  that 
institute,  which  is,  perhaps,  the  clearest  expression  of  his 
own  mind  and  character.  Whether  consciously  or  not, 
the  germ  of  all  that  followed  must  have  lain  within  his 
own  soul ;  and  much  that  it  is  difficult  for  us  to  bring 
out  in  the  portraiture  of  his  single  life,  may  be  more 
easily  studied  in  the  general  history  of  his  order. 

The  rapid  progress  of  the  Friars  Preachers  even  during 
the  lifetime  of  S.  Dominic,  and  the  position  they  so  soon 
assumed  as  the  great  teaching  order  of  the  Church,  may 
indeed  seem  to  render  this  glance  into  their  after-history 
less  necessary  with  them  than  with  many  other  orders 
that  might  be  named.  Still,  though  the  main  features  of 
their  mission  were  traced  out  and  recognized  by  the 
world,  before  their  founder's  death,  time  was  needed  to 
call  forth  all  their  resources,  and  to  exhibit  them  answer- 
ing to  the  demands  of  different  ages,  and  bringing  out  of 
their  treasure-house  "  things  new  and  old,"  as  they 
shaped  themselves  to  the  wants  of  every  fresh  exigency. 

Q 


226  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

And  as  we  watch  them  in  their  work,  and  see  them 
jealously  preserving  the  unity  of  their  government,  and 
adhering  to  the  laws  as  well  as  to  the  spirit  of  their  first 
institution,  we  cannot  but  admire  at  the  same  time  their 
wonderful  adaptation  of  that  spirit  to  the  needs  of  the 
times,  and  their  aptitude  in  the  office  of  teachers  to  the 
people,  as  they  successively  occupied  every  avenue  to  the 
popular  intelligence  and  heart. 

We  are  aware  that  in  treating  this  subject  we  can  do 
little  more  than  present  our  readers  with  what  has 
already  been  so  eloquently  given  in  the  celebrated 
"Memorial  to  the  French  people;"  but  originality  forms 
no  part  of  our  pretensions.  History  itself  can  be  but 
the  repetition  of  the  same  facts  from  different  points  of 
view ;  and  whilst  the  view  of  the  Pere  Lacordaire  has 
been  that  of  a  nationalist  and  an  apologist,  we  conceive 
that  neither  a  national  nor  an  apologetic  tone  would  be 
suitable  to  our  own  circumstances.  In  the  same  way, 
therefore,  as  we  have  attempted  to  give  the  life  of  s! 
Dominic,  we  shall  now  add  a  few  words  on  the  history 
of  his  order,  whose  triumphs,  whilst  they  doubtless  form 
part  of  his  accidential  glory  in  heaven,  unfold  to  us, 
century  after  century,  something  more  of  the  character 
of  his  own  soul. 

We  have  before .  observed  that  the  most  remarkable 
feature  in  the  Dominican  order  has  been  the  variety  of 
ways  in  which  it  has  been  allowed  to  act  on  the  destinies 
of  the  Church  and  of  the  world.  As  apostles,  as  theolo- 
gians, as  men  of  science,  as  bishops,  or  as  simple  ascetics, 
in  every  branch  of  human  learning,  and  every  form  of 
the  religious  life,  the  world  has  felt  the  influence  of  the 
children  of  S.  Dominic.  Two  only,  however,  of  these  cha- 
racteristics had  perfectly  developed  themselves  during  the 
life  of  the  founder ;  namely,  the  apostolic  labours  of  the 
order,  and  its  cultivation  of  theological  science,  which  last 
was  expressely  enjoined  on  the  order  by  its  very  constitu- 
tions, and  with  a  view  to  which  the  Friars  Preachers  had 
already  Sxed  their  residence  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
three  great  universities  of  Europe.  During  S.  Dominic's 
life,  however,  although  the  theological   element  had  been 


rrs  RAPID    EXTENSION.  227 

distinctly  recognized  and  provided  for,  the  apostolic  cha- 
racter greatly  preponderated.  And  this  was  only  natural : 
while  theologians  were  being  slowly  and  painfully  formea 
in  the  schools  of  Paris  and  Bologna,  a  fervent  noviciate 
under  the  guidance  of  the  saint  was  education  enough 
for  the  preacher,  whose  power  lay  not  so  much  in  the 
depth  of  his  science,  as  in  the  magic  of  his  eloquence, 
and  the  holiness  of  his  life.  We  have  but  to  recall  some 
of  those  wonderful  conversions,  to  which  we  have  re- 
ferred in  the  foregoing  pages,  and  of  which  the  early 
annals  of  the  order  are  so  full,  and  then  to  remember 
the  power  of  that  deep  religious  enthusiasm  which 
follows  on  the  death  of  human  passion,  and  inherits  all 
its  intensity,  to  understand  how  an  ardent  apostolic  zeal 
was  sure  to  be  the  first  spirit  developed  in  an  order 
devoted  to  the  salvation  of  souls.  As  time  went  on, 
it  seized  on  other  means  for  the  advancement  of  the 
same  object,  and  claimed  science  and  the  very  arts  as 
instruments  for  saving  souls ;  but  in  the  fresh  fervour  of 
their  institute  there  was  not  time  for  this,  and  the  first 
fathers  of  the  order  were  necessarily,  and  almost  exclu- 
sively, preachers  and  apostles  of  the  faith.  It  was  in 
this  apostolic  character  that  the  order  spread  itself  with 
such  rapidity  over  Europe  during  the  first  twenty  years 
of  its  foundation.  The  second  chapter  of  Bologna,  over 
which  S.  Dominic  had  presided  just  before  his  death,  had 
witnessed  the  establishment  of  eight  provinces,  including 
more  than  sixty  convents — fruit  enough  for  the  labours 
of  six  short  years:  before  seven  more  had  elapsed,  four 
new  provinces  had  been  added,  under  the  government  of 
blessed  Jordan  of  Saxony,  whilst  the  convents  and  the 
members  of  the  brethren  had  multiplied,  we  had  almost 
said,  miraculously.  Jordan  is  said  to  have  clothed  more 
than  a  thousand  novices  with  his  own  hand ;  and  we  are 
told  that  the  first  thing  done  on  his  arrival  at  any  of  the 
houses  was  to  supply  cloth  for  the  habits  of  the  crowd 
of  postulants  who  were  sure  to  apply  for  admission. 
This  extraordinary  expansion  of  the  order  plid  not  show 
itself  in  one  directon  more  than  another ;  for  although 
the   sympathies  and  early  associations  of  Jordan  himself 

92 


228  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

naturally  turned  to  the  Holy  Land,  which  was  the  country 
of  his  birth,  yet  this  attraction  to  the  east  did  not  pre- 
vent an  equal  growth  in  other  and  opposite  directions, 
so  that  whilst  Greece  and  Palestine  formed  two  of  the 
new  provinces,  others  were  established  in  Poland  and 
Dalmatia. 

During  the  brief  space  granted  to  S.  Dominic  after  the 
establishment  of  his  order,  he  was  permitted  to  clothe 
with  his  own  hands  two  men  destined  to  be  among  the 
greatest  of  his  children,  and,  like  himself,  to  be  enrolled 
by  the  church  among  the  catalogue  of  her  saints.  The 
first  of  these  was  S.  Hyacinth,  of  whose  extraordinary 
vocation  and  subsequent  career  we  have  before  spoken. 
And  whilst  he  is  reverenced  in  his  order  as  her  greatest 
apostle,  the  name  of  S.  Peter  of  Verona  stands  as  the 
glorious  first-fruits  of  her  martyrs.  We  shall  not  attempt, 
in  our  limited  space,  anything  like  a  sketch  of  the  labours 
of  S.  Hyacinth,  and  of  the  other  great  missionaries  who 
followed  in  his  steps.  In  later  ages,  infidelity  has  well 
nigh  swept  away  the  traces  of  their  apostolate,  so  that 
the  very  names  of  the  countries  through  which  they 
preached  are  lost  to  Christendom ;  and  we  are  apt  to  be 
startled  at  the  notices  which  we  find  in  history,  exhibiting 
to  us  the  vast  extent  of  the  empire  of  the  Cross  during 
the  middle  ages.  These  accounts,  which  we  are  often 
tempted  to  treat  as  mere  fable  and  romance,  receive 
singular  confirmation  from  the  discoveries  of  our  own 
times ;  and  the  vestiges  of  Christian  doctrine  and  Ca- 
tholic ceremonial  among  the  Tartars  of  the  present  day 
may  possibly  seem  less  unaccountable,  when  we  remember 
that  not  only  did  S.  Hyacinth  preach  the  faith  in  those 
distant  regions  of  Asia,  as  far  as  the  northern  boundaries 
of  China,  but  that  with  a  success  which  is  evidenced  by 
the  distinct  notices  we  have  of  embassies  from  Christian 
princes  of  these  countries  to  various  European  courts  so 
early  as  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century.  The  exact 
detail  of  S.  Hyacinth's  labours  has  never  been  preserved; 
he  alone  could  have  chronicled  them ;  but,  as  one  of 
his  historians*  justly  observes,  "his  only  thought  was  to 

•x-Tourofl. 


MISSIONS   IN   ARMENIA.  229 

save  souls,  and  not  to  tell  us  what  he  did  for  their  salva- 
tion." And  whilst  the  fruits  of  his  prodigious  toils  have 
in  other  places  been  utterly  swept  away,  we  cannot  but 
refer  to  what  the  same  writer  remarks  as  among  his 
greatest  miracles,  one  ever  fresh,  and  subsisting  among 
us  to  this  day, — we  mean  the  preservation  of  the  faith 
with  so  much  of  its  first  fervour  in  the  unfortunate  country 
which  gave  him  birth.  Nowhere  has  the  Catholic  faith 
sustained  ruder  shocks  than  in  Poland  ;  heresy  and  schism, 
and  infidelity,  and  the  tyranny  of  a  foreign  yoke,  have 
done  their  best  to  root  it  from  her  soil ;  yet  still  she 
gives  her  martyrs  to  the  torture  and  the  sword,  and 
the  Order  of  Preachers,  to  whom  she  owes  her  great 
apostle,  still  finds  a  cherished  home  in  her  torn  and 
afflicted  bosom. 

If  S.  Hyacinth  and  his  followers  sustained  the  apo- 
stolic character  of  the  order  in  the  northern  countries,  a 
long  succession  of  great  men  might  be  cited,  who  were 
for  centuries  the  chief  supporters  of  the  faith  throughout 
the  East.  In  1330,  under  the  pontifiate  of  John  XXIL, 
we  find  the  Friars  Preachers  established  in  Armenia, 
and  one  of  their  number,  the  blessed  Bartholomew  of 
Bologna,  governing  the  Church  of  that  nation  as  arch- 
bishop of  Naksivan.  By  his  labours  the  Greek  schism 
was  well-nigh  exterminated  out  of  the  land,*  and  the 
Armenians  returned  to  the  Church  in  crowds.  He  also 
made  a  successful  resistance  to  the  progress  of  Mahome- 
tanism,  then  beginning  to  extend  its  baneful  influence 
through  the  East ;  and  we  may  gather  some  idea  of  the 
position  of  the  order  in  Armenia  from  the  tradition  of 
the  Christians  of  that  country,  who  affirm  that  seven 
distinct  churches  were  founded  at  that  time,  whose 
bishops  were  all  taken  from  the  ranks  of  the  Friars 
Preachers.  These  dioceses  were  established  in  Persia, 
Caffa,  Georgia,  and  the  countries   on  the  shores  of  the 

--<-  Clement  Galanus  tells  us  of  a  certain  Brother  John,  an  English- 
man, and  companion  of  blessed  Bartholomew's,  who  assisted  him 
in  the  translation  of  a  vast  number  of  theological  books  into  the 
Armenian  dialect,  and  adds,  that  many  copies  of  these  translations 
Were  to  be  found  in  the  Armenian  convents  of  the  order  still  exist- 
ing in  his  time. 


230  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

Black  Sea ;  and  even  after  the  triumph  of  Mahometa'nism 
in  these  regions,  the  Dominicans  stood  their  ground,  and 
their  houses  were  still  existing  in  Armenia  up  to  a  late 
period.  The  archbishopric  of  Naksivan,  first  filled  by 
blessed  Bartholomew,  still  exists  :  and  his  orthodox  suc- 
cessor rules  in  our  own  day  over  a  widely-extended 
diocese,  in  which  the  free  exercise  of  the  Catholic  faith 
has  been  tolerated  under  the  successive  rules  of  the 
Tartars,  the  Saracens,  and  the  Persians.  So  late  as 
the  date  of  Touron's  history,  the  archbishops  were  still 
nominated  by  the  superiors  of  the  order,  and  chosen  from 
its   ranks. 

In  Persia  the  success  of  the  Dominican  missions  was 
scarcely  less  brilliant.  Under  the  same  Pope,  Franco  of 
Perugia  was  appointed  archbishop  and  metropolitan  of 
Sultana,  while  six  religious  of  his  order  were  named  to 
other  sees.  Nor  were  these  empty  titles.  We  have 
abundant  proof  of  the  rapid  extension  of  the  Church  in 
these  new  proviuces  from  the  Papal  briefs,  which  grant 
power  to  the  archbishop  to  consecrate  other  bishops  as 
necessity  might  require,  and  give  the  charge  of  all  the 
churches,  left  without  a  sufficient  number  of  pastors,  to 
the  community  of  the  Friars  Preachers.  And  here  we 
may  again  observe  the  special  blessing  which  seems  to 
rest  on  the  missionary  labours  of  the  order ;  for  the 
primate  of  Armenia  being  won  over  to  recognize  the 
primacy  of  Borne  by  the  zeal  of  Father  Franco,  his 
successors  have  ever  since  continued  in  the  orthodox 
communion,  and  enjoy  the  title  of  "the  Catholic."* 

Our  readers  would  perhaps  smile  were  we  to  include 
among  the  missionary  conquests  of  the  order  the  dominions 
of  Prester  John ;  and  quote  the  romantic  pages  of  Uretta 
with  their  wonderful  tales  of  the  convents  of  Plurimanos 
and  Alleluia,  each  inhabited  by  many  thousand  religious, 
and  more  than  four  leagues  in  circuit,  with  their  eighty 
dormitories,  each  one  with  his  own  church  and  offices, 
and  their  refectories  a  mile  in  length.  But  though 
the  extraordinary  legends  of  the  Spanish  writer  belong 
rather    to   poetry   than   to   history,    it   can    scarcely    be 

*Touron. 


ALBERT   THE   GREAT.  231 

doubted  but  that  some  ground  existed  for  his  nairative; 
and  that  the  Dominican  Order  had  at  one  time  made 
so  extraordinary  a  progress  in  Abyssinia  and  Ethiopia 
that,  while  no  authentic  records  are  left  of  their  achieve- 
ments, their  memory  has  been  retained  in  the  exaggerated 
fables  of  romance.  The  merest  glance  into  the  history 
of  those  countries,  now  overspread  by  Mahometan  ism, 
astonishes  us  with  the  idea  it  presents  of  the  extent  to 
which  Christianity  had  spread  in  the  south  and  east;  and 
in  the  annals  of  the  order  we  have  indications  of  the 
countless  martyrs  who  fell  in  the  defence  of  these  almost 
unknown  churches.  For  everywhere  the  aposlolate  of 
the  Friars  Preachers  was  sown  and  sealed  in  blood  ;  and 
throughout  Poland,  Hungary  Armenia,  and  Tartary,  the 
first  century  of  their  labour  yielded  to  the  Church  a 
glorious  addition  to  her  white-robed  company  of  martyrs. 
Meanwhile,  the  other  element  of  which  we  have  spoken, 
that  of  theological  science,  was  developing  itself  in  an 
equal  degree.  The  very  year  that  was  marked  by  the  death 
of  S.  Dominic  witnessed  the  admission  into  the  order 
of  one  who  may  be  called  the  first-fruits  of  its  theology. 
This  was  the  stupid  Swabian  novice,  driven  to  despair 
during  his  noviciate  because  he  was  too  dull  to  learn, 
but  who,  receiving  the  gift  of  a  profound  intelligence 
from  the  very  hands  of  Mary,  has  been  known  to  all  suc- 
ceeding ages  by  the  title  of  Albert  the  Great. *  Albert 
may  be  taken  as  the  very  type  of  a  doctor,  or  master  of 
those  times,  and  as  such,  his  name,  under  the  mythological 
guise  of  poetic  fable,  has  been  made  as  well  known  as 
that  of  Faust  or  Cornelius  Agrippa.  It  need  scarcely 
be  said  that  the  poetical  and  the  historical  Albert  are 
two  very  different  personages ;  yet  a  man's  learning  must 
needs  be  something  wonderful  to  admit  it  to  legendary 
fame.  Perhaps,  in  few  ages  but  the  thirteenth  would 
learning  alone  have  gained  him  such  a  distinction  ;  but 
that  singular  century  presents  us  with  the  romance  of 
science.  We  are  accustomed  to  talk  much  of  the  taste 
for  knowledge  exhibited  in  our  own  day,  yet  it  may 
be  questioned  whether,  with  all  our  education,  we  can  in 
x-  See  No.  3.  of  "Catholic  Legends.'' 


?32  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

any  degree  comprehend  the  enthusiasm  with  which  our 
fathers  of  the  middle  ages  entered  into  the  arena  of 
philosophy  and  scholastic  learning.  One  great  cause  of 
the  popularity  of  science  in  those  days  may  doubtless  be 
found  in  the  method  by  which  it  was  taught.  The  press 
was  then  unknown,  and  men  learnt  everything  from  the 
lips  of  their  teachers  ;  the  teaching  came  to  them  with 
all  that  living,  personal  charm  which  ever  gives  so  far 
more  powerful  an  influence  to  the  spoken  than  to  the 
written  word  ;  and  so  philosophy  and  grammar,  the 
logic  of  Aristotle,  and  the  sentences  of  Peter  Lombard, 
which  would  seem  but  dull  "reading  for  the  million"  in 
the  nineteenth  century,  were  popular  in  the  thirteenth, 
and  excited  an  extravagant  enthusiasm  when  dressed  in 
the  witchery  and  grace  of  rhetoric.  We  are  surely  right 
in  speaking  of  this  age  as  the  romantic  era  of  learning, 
when  it  furnishes  us  with  such  a  scene  as  that  given  in 
the  life  of  the  Great  Albert  on  his  first  visit  to  Paris  in 
the  year  1248.  He  came  there  to  lecture  on  the  sen- 
tences, as  he  had  previously  done  in  all  the  cities  of 
Germany.  His  fame  preceded  him,  and  no  school  in 
the  University  was  large  enough  to  contain  the  crowds 
who  flocked  to  listen  to  his  words ;  so  they  and  their 
lecturer  were  forced  to  adjourn  to  the  great  square  out- 
side, and  the  subtle  discourse  of  the  great  master  was 
delivered  on  the  spot  since  called  the  "Place  Maubert," 
a  corruption  of  the  words,  "  Place  Maitre  Albert." 

The  variety  of  Albert's  learning  is  indicated  in  the  sen- 
tence by  which  his  contemporaries  describe  him,  "  Magnus 
in  magia,  major  in  philosophia,  maximus  in  tlieologia ;" 
but  whatever  his  distinction  of  these  branches  of  learning, 
we  may  safely  say  that  his  crowning  glory  was  in  the 
disciples  whose  minds  were  formed  under  his  own.  His 
prodigious  intellect  was  the  morning  star  of  Dominican 
science,  but  a  very  galaxy  followed ;  and  at  one  time  he 
numbered  among  his  pupils  in  the  University  of  Cologne* 

•*  Among  other  pupils  of  Albert  the  Great,  and  fellow-students 
ofS.  Thomas,  we  may  mention  blessed  Thomas  Joyce,  an  English- 
man, who  joined  the  order  with  his  five  brothers,  and  was  afterwards 
created  cardinal  of  Santa  Sabina  by  Clement  V. 


S.    THOMAS   AQUINAS.  233 

Thomas  Cantipratano,  S.  Ambrose  of  Siena,  S.  James  of 
Bevagna,  B.  Augustine  of  Hungary,  and,  above  and 
beyond  all  others,  S.  Thomas  Aquinas,  whose  fame  soon 
threw  that  of  his  master  and  companions  in  the  shade. 
Happy  indeed  is  it  for  an  age,  and  an  order,  when,  in 
giving  a  list  of  their  learned  men,  we  give  one  only  of 
canonized  or  beatified  saints.  The  children  of  S.  Dominic 
may  well  look  back  to  that  era  with  something  of  pride, 
and  something  yet  more  of  humiliation ;  for  in  those  days 
the  men  who  earned  for  their  order  its  highest  claims  in 
the  ranks  of  intellectual  greatness,  if,  like  Albertus  Magnus, 
they  were  "  great  in  magic, *  greater  in  philosophy, 
greatest  in  theology,"  were  greatest  of  all  in  another  and  a 
profounder  science,  and  that  was  the  "  superemiiient  science 
of  Divine  love." 

It  would  of  course  be  quite  unnecessary  to  enter  here 
on  any  analysis  of  the  claims  by  which  S.  Thomas  holds 
his  rank  among  the  first  doctors  of  the  Church.  His  name 
is  enough  to  thousands  who  never  read  a  line  of  his  works, 
and  are  content  with  knowing  that  the  Church  has  accepted 
him  almost  as  the  definer  of  her  faith.  When  the  Triden- 
tine  fathers  had  laid  on  their  council-table,  as  their  only 
authorities,  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the  decrees  of  the  Popes, 
and  the  works  of  the  angelic  doctor,  they  completed  his 
canonization  as  a  theologian.  Yet,  whatever  may  be  the 
degree  of  reputation  accorded  to  S.  Thomas  by  the 
voice  of  the  six  centuries  that  have  elapsed  since  he  formed 
the  separate  materials  of  dogmatic,  moral,  and  speculative 
theology  into  one  grand  and  finished  structure,  we  can 
never  certainly  rightly  estimate  his  merit  without  some 
knowledge  of  the  dangers  from  which  science  and  philo- 
sophy were  rescued  by  his  teaching.  During  the  12th  and 
13  th  centuries,  the  revival  of  learning  had  led  to  dangerous 
excesses,  and  men  pursuing  their  philosophic  inquiries 
without  the   check   of  authority,  and  with  the  ardour  of 

■■'■  We  need  scarcely  observe  that  the  "  Magic'  here  spoken  of  was 
nothing  more  than  skill  in  natural  science,  similar  to  that  which 
obtained  the  title  of  "  magician"  for  Roger  Bacon.  Far  from  being 
infected  with  the  taste  for  unlawful  science  so  prevalent  in  his  day, 
Albert  wrote  expressly  to  condemn  its  practice,  and  distinguished 
between  the  lawful  and  unlawful  in  distinct  and  definite  terms. 


2d4  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

an  unbridled  passion,  had  plunged  into  the  very  vortex  of 
scepticism.  "  The  universities  were  as  often  schools  of  infi- 
delity as  of  faith  ;  the  philosophers  of  the  age  owned  but 
one  master,  and  he  had  the  misfortune  to  be  a  heathen. 
"  Aristotle,"  says  Lacordaire,  "  was  taken  as  the  represen- 
tative of  wisdom ;  and,  unfortunately,  Aristotle  and  the 
gospel  did  not  always  agree." 

But,  besides  the  natural  consequences  of  taking  a 
Pagan  philosopher  as  the  infallible  guide  and  teacher  of 
thought  to  Christian  students,  the  very  enthusiasm  of 
the  age  constituted  its  great  danger.  "  As  soon  as  we  take 
our  first  glance  at  this  epoch,"  says  Balmez,*  "we  ob- 
serve that  in  spite  of  the  intellectual  rudeness  which 
one  would  imagine  must  have  kept  nations  in  abject 
silence,  there  was  at  the  bottom  of  men's  minds  an 
anxiety  which  deeply  moved  and  agitated  them.  The 
times  were  ignorant,  but  it  was  an  ignorance,  conscious 
of  itself,  which  longed  for  knowledge.  We  find  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  Europe  a  certain  germ  and  index  of  the 
greatest  disasters  ;  the  most  horrible  doctrines  arise 
amidst  the  heaving  masses  ;  the  most  fearful  disorders 
signalize  the  first  step  of  the  nations  in  the  career  of  life : 
rays  of  light  and  heat,  indeed,  have  penetrated  the  shape- 
less chaos,  presaging  the  new  future  which  is  reserved  for 
humanity,  but  at  the  same  time  the  observer  is  seized 
with  alarm,  for  he  knows  that  this  heat  may  produce 
excessive  fermentation,  and  engender  corruption  in  the 
field     which    promises    soon    to    become    an    enchanting 

garden The  world  was  in  danger  of  being  abused 

and  deceived  by  the  first  fanatic  who  came  ;  and  at  such 
a  moment  the  fate  of  Europe  depended  on  the  direction 
given  to  the  universal  activity."  This  intellectual  "  fer- 
mentation," to  use  the  expressive  term  of  the  Spanish 
writer,  gave  rise  to  the  most  astonishing  extravagances. 
Perverting  the  will,  we  see  it  breaking  out  in  the  wild 
and  criminal  excesses 'of  the  Manichees,  and  other  fana- 
tical sects  ;  whilst  in  the  schools  the  understanding  was 
darkened  and  led  astray  by  innumerable  subtleties  ;  and 

-::-  "  Protestantism  and  Catholicity  compared  in  their  effects  on 
the  civilization  of  Europe,"  chap.  43. 


S.    THOMAS   AQUINAS.  235 

before  the  Christian  philosophy  had  been  reduced  to 
system,  many,  entering  on  the  unexplored  sea  of  thought 
without  a  guide,  made  hopeless  shipwreck  of  their  faith. 
In  the  same  chapter  of  his  great  work  on  civilization 
which  we  have  quoted,  Balmez,  after  presenting  us  with 
a  striking  sketch  of  the  confusion  and  excitement  of  the 
times,  does  not  hesitate  to  attribute  the  salvation  of 
Europe  from  the  chaos  into  which  it  was  about  to  plunge, 
to  the  influence  exerted  on  society  by  the  mendicant 
orders  ;  nor  was  that  influence  anywhere  more  power- 
fully felt,  nor  the  danger  itself  more  imminent,  than  in 
the  schools  of  the  Universities.  For  the  peculiarity  in 
the  mode  of  teaching  of  those  times,  when  the  chair  of  an 
illustrious  professor  drew  together  crowds  who  had 
travelled  from  distant  countries  to  listen  to  the  famous 
master  of  the  day,  while  it  gave  a  wonderful  vivacity  and 
interest  to  the  pursuit  of  science,  fostered  a  danger  which 
has  ever  been  the  nurse  of  false  doctrine.  It  was  hard 
for  a  man  who  saw  himself  the  object  of  such  popular 
enthusiasm,  to  resist  the  seductions  of  vanity  ;  and  vanity 
would  often  tempt  him  to  sacrifice  truth  to  novelty,  to 
seek  the  reputation  of  being  the  founder  of  a  new 
system,  and  to  affect  what  was  bold  and  original  in  theory 
in  matters  where  original  speculation  is  seldom  friendly 
to  the  faith.  It  was  amid  the  confusion  of  these  new 
opinions  that  S.  Thomas  was  given  to  the  world  to  mark 
out  the  limits  of  Christian  Philosophy  ;  he  did  not  attempt 
to  silence  the  strife  of  tongues  by  an  antagonism  of  terms, 
but  skilfully  adapted  the  language  of  Aristotle,  and  forced 
it  into  the  service  of  the  Church.  To  use  the  expression  cf 
a  modern  writer,  "  he  reconquered  his  writings  by  giving 
them  a  Christian  sense."  Thus  the  work  which  8.  Domi- 
nic had  begun  by  directing  the  enthusiasm  of  the  will  into 
a  religio  us  channel,  was  completed  by  his  great  follower, 
when  he  laid  the  chains  of  faith  on  the  enthusiasm  of  tli» 
intellect.  A  broad  high  road,  safe  and  visible  to  all,  was 
►thrown  by  his  master  hand  over  the  quicksands  of  opinion; 
and  whilst  those  who  had  preceded  him  as  champion* 
of  Christianity  had,  for  the  most  part,  advocated  the  sup- 
pression of  that  intellectual  power  whose  erratic  excesses 


236  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

were  beyond  their  control^  S.  Thomas  boldly  advocated 
its  claims,  and  did  but  bring  the  haughty  rebel  to  the 
servitude  of  the  faith.  "  His  leading  idea,"  says  Balmez, 
"  was  to  make  the  philosophy  of  the  time  subservient  to 
the  defence  of  religion."  For  this  reason  he  used  the 
language  and  system  of  Aristotle  rather  than  those  of  the 
fathers,  to  whom  the  master  of  the  sentences  had  closely 
adhered;  he  won  men  from  the  dangers  of  philosophy 
by  availing  himself  of  its  charms  ;  and  in  the  words 
of  the  writer  just  quoted,  "finding  the  schools  in  anarchy, 
he  reduced  them  to  order,  and  on  account  of  his  angelic 
intellect  and  eminent  sanctity  was  looked  up  to  as  their 
sublime  dictator."* 

In  his  own  time,  however,  this  bright  luminary  rose  on 
the  world  amid  the  storm  of  controversy  and  persecution. 
The  twin  orders  of  S.  Francis  and  S.  Dominic  had  already 
taught  theology  publicly  in  their  schools,  although 
excluded  from  the  chairs  of  the  Universities.  If,  how- 
ever, the  University  professorship  were  jealously  guarded 
by  the  secular  authorities,  these  had  sometimes  the 
mortification  to  see  them  resigned  by  their  most  illus- 
trious occupants,  in  order  to  embrace  the  institute  of 
their  despised  rivals.  It  is  interesting  to  ourselves  to 
know  that  the  two  first  of  either  order  who  publicly 
taught  theology  in  the  schools  of  Paris  were  English- 
men by  birth  ;  they  were  John  of  S.  Giles,  and  Alex- 
ander of  Hales.  The  first  was  remarkable  for  pro- 
ficiency in  natural,  as  well  as  theological  science,  and 
his  early  imputation  had  been  gained  by  his  lectures  on 
medicine.  But  laying  aside  these  pursuits  in  order  to 
devote  himself  to  the  exclusive  study  of  religion,  he 
iceived  the  degrees  of  doctor,  and  finally  a  professor's 
chair  from  the  University  of  Paris.  A  day  came,  how- 
ever, when  he  was  to  present  the  world  with  one  of  those 
great  practical  lessons,  more  eloquent  than  any  words. 
The  chapter  general  of  the  Friars  Preachers  was  then 
assembled  in  the  French  capital  under  the  goverment 
of  blessed  Jordan  ;  and  on  a  certain  day  John  of  S.  Giles 
appeared  in  the  pulpit  of  S.  James's  church  to  preach  to 
tt  Balmez,  chap.  71. 


THE   UNIVERSITIES.  237 

a  vast  assembly  of  his  admirers.  His  sermon  was  on  the 
vanity  of  the  world,  the  worthlesness  of  its  riches,  its 
honours,  and  of  all  it  had  to  give.  In  the  midst  of  his 
impassioned  oratory,  as  he  was  listened  to  in  profound 
silence  by  the  breathless  audience,  he  suddenly  stopped, 
descended  the  pulpit  steps,  and,  kneeling  at  the  feet  of 
Jordan  before  all  present,  he  asked  and  received  the 
habit  of  religion,  and  this  being  done,  he  finished  his 
discourse,  having  thus  illustrated  his  subject  by  his 
example  as  well  as  by  his  words.  Nevertheless,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  urgent  solicitation  of  the  students,  he 
did  not  discontinue  his  lectures  as  professor ;  and  this, 
according  to  Nicholas  Trivet,  first  gave  rise  to  the  erec- 
tion of  the  Dominican  chair  of  theology  at  the  University. 
He  adds  that  there  were  many  others  illustrious  at  once 
for  their  learning  and  virtue,  who  about  the  same  time 
renounced  everything  that  the  world  had  to  give,  to 
embrace  the  voluntary  poverty  of  Jesus  Christ,  retiring 
into  the  orders  of  the  Friars  Preachers,  or  the  Friars 
Minors.  Alexander  Hales  was  one  who  joined  the  ranks 
of  the  Franciscans;  but  among  the  illustrious  Domini- 
cans of  this  period  none  held  a  higher  reputation  than 
Bacon  and  Fishacre,  of  whom  we  have  before  spoken. 
Matthew  Paris  does  not  hesitate  to  say  of  them,  that 
England  had  none  to  compare  with  them  for  greatness 
of  learning  or  sanctity  of  life.  They  both  took  the  habit 
of  the  Preachers  at  Oxford  about  the  same  time  that 
John  of  S.  Giles  embraced  the  institute  in  Paris;  and, 
like  him,  they  continued  to  fill  their  professional  chairs, 
adding  to  their  studies  the  exercise  of  the  apostolic 
duties. 

The  jealousy  of  the  secular  clergy,  however,  headed  by 
the  rector  of  the  university  of  Paris,  William  de  St.  Amour, 
soon  directed  a  violent  assault  on  the  position  assumed 
by  the  two  orders  in  the  French  capital.  In  the  long 
contest  of  forty  years  which  ensued  between  the  Univer- 
sity and  the  mendicant  friars,  and  which  has  been 
rendered  illustrious  by  the  joint  defence  offered  for  the 
latter  by  S.  Thomas  Aquina,  and  S.  Bonaventura,  the 
champions   of  their   respective   orders,   the   seculars   dis- 


238  THE  DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

tinguished  themselves  by  the  violence  of  their  invectives, 
and  the  grossness  of  their  libels.  According  to  them, 
the  friars  were  hypocrites  and  false  prophets,  and  every- 
thing spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  concerning  the  fore- 
runners of  Antichrist  was  to  be  interpreted  of  them. 
It  was  not  until  the  year  1255  that  this  celebrated 
quarrel  was  finally  settled  by  the  decision  of  Pope 
Alexander  IV.,  which  put  the  two  orders  in  possession 
of  all  their  contested  privileges;  and,  amongst  others,  of 
that  so  dearly  prized,  of  being  eligible  for  the  university 
professorships.  In  fact,  when  the  struggle  was  over,  the 
Dominicans  may  be  said  to  have  taken  possession  of  the 
universities  of  Europe.  John  of  S.  Giles,  already  men- 
tioned, hold  the  chair  of  theology  in  no  fewer  than  four; 
and  the  two  professorships  already  claimed  by  the  order 
in  Paris,  were  secured  to  it  by  the  authority  of  S.  Louis ; 
whilst  Oxford  and  Bologna,  which  had  already  given  so 
many  of  their  doctors  to  the  new  institute,  now  received 
back  their  most  renowned  professors  from  its  ranks.  From 
this  period  must  date  the  development  of  the  second  great 
mission  of  the  Friars  Preachers, — their  influence  on 
theology  and  learning :  their  ranks  were  already  rich 
with  the  names  of  apostles  and  martyrs ;  they  were  now 
to  be  equally  prolific  in  those  of  doctors.  Their  schools 
everywhere  started  up  side  by  side  with  the  numerous 
universities  which  that  age  of  scholastic  enthusiasm  pro- 
duced at  Orleans,  Toulouse,  Montpellier,  and  other  places 
which  it  would  be  wearisome  to  enumerate.  They  may 
be  said  to  have  created  the  university  of  Dublin  altogether ; 
while  their  influence  continued  paramount  in  those  of 
Oxford,  Paris,  and  Bologna;  "where,"  says  a  writer 
of  our  own  day  ;  "  they  did  more  than  any  other  teachers 
to  give  the  knowledge  taught  in  them  its  distinctive 
form." 

—  But  the  influence  produced  by  the  learning  of  the 
Dominicans  was  far  from  .being  confined  to  theology; 
their  institute  embraced  no  smaller  idea  than  that  of 
Christianizing  the  very  well-spring  of  science;  so  that, 
as  its  thousand  streams  flowed  forth  to  irrigate  and 
fertilize  the  world,  there  should  mingle  with  their  floods 


ITS   INFLUENCE    ON   LITERATURE.  239 

the  gladness  and  healing  of  the  waters  of  life.  Nicholas 
Trivet,  the  English  historian,  and  a  member  of  the  order, 
is  described,  for  instance,  by  Le  Grendre  as  "  a  good 
religious,  a  good  poet,  a  good  philosopher,  a  great  mathe- 
matician, and  a  profound  theologian/'  At  an  age,  there- 
fore, when  England  is  commonly  said  to  have  had  no 
literature  (Henry  III. — Edward  I.),  the  order  of  Preachers 
gave  her  this  great  writer,  whom  Touron  declares  to  have 
"possessed  all  the  sciences,  and  each  one  as  perfectly  as 
if  he  had  made  it  his  exclusive  study."  And  the  list  oi 
his  varied  acquirements  is  but  a  sample  of  those  in  which 
his  brethren  have  by  turns  excelled.  Much  of  this  learn- 
ing, it  must  be  remembered,  was  conveyed,  not  through 
writings,  but  from  the  lips  of  skilled  and  eloquent  preach- 
ers; and  hence  the  very  calling  and  office  of  a  Dominican 
gave  him  familiarity  with  the  great  medium  of  popular 
instruction  in  those  days.  We  can  scarcely  estimate  the 
effect  of  the  sudden  expansion  of  the  office  of  preaching 
which  followed  on  the  establishment  of  the  mendicant 
orders,  as  it  was  felt  not  only  in  religion,  but  in  language 
and  general  education.  The  intellects,  as  well  as  the  wills  of 
men  were  enlightened  by  the  sermons  of  such  teachers  as 
Taulerus  and  Suso  ;  for  we  must  remember  that  preaching 
was  not  now,  as  formerly,  confined  to  the  towns  and 
universities,  and  the  resorts  of  the  learned  ^nd  opulent : 
every  country  village  and  mountain  district  was  in  turn 
visited  by  the  wandering  friar,  who  often  taught  his  simple 
audience  the  elements  of  thought  and  language  with  the 
same  accents  with  which  he  spoke  to  them  of  penance 
and  of  faith.  This,  which  is  no  fanciful  supposition,  may 
be  illustrated  by  the  example  of  blessed  Jordan  of  Pisa, 
a  man  asserted  by  contemporary  writers  to  have  been  at 
once  "  a  prodigy  of  nature,  and  a  miracle  of  grace,"  but 
whose  reputation,  like  that  of  so  many  of  his  brethren, 
has  scarcely  survived  his  own  day,  through  the  modesty 
of  his  order,  whose  historians  are  never  so  tantalizing  in 
their  brevity  as  when  speaking  of  the  illustrious  members 
of  their  own  society.  He  lived  at  the  latter  part  of  the 
thirtenth  century,  a  time  when  the  language  of  Italy 
was  still  unformed,  and  presented  a  rude  chaotic  mixture 


240  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

of  the  barbarous  dialects  left  by  the  inundations  of  the 
northern  nations.  The  "  lingua  Toscand"  as  yet  had  no 
vocabulary;  and,  we  are  told,  the  first  to  harmonise*  an"d 
combine  its  scattered  elements  was  this  preaching  friar, 
whose  eloquence,  rich  in  classic  erudition  and  the  grace 
of  native  genius,  was  uttered  in  a  style  at  once  new  and 
perfectly  intelligible  to  his  hearers  ;  so  that  the  few 
fragments  that  remain  of  his  sermons  may  even  now  be 
taken  as  examples  of  correct  and  musical  Italian.  He, 
too,  was  one  of  the  varied  geniuses  of  his  order.  Not 
only  was  he  a  great  philosopher  and  theologian,  "joining 
the  eloquence  of  Tully  to  the  memory  of  Mithridates," 
but,  we  are  told,  "  he  was  a  perfect  master  iu  the  art 
of  teaching  men  with  equal  facility  on  any  subject  that 
he  chose."* 

We  may  at  the  same  time  mention  two  others  whose 
influence  on  what  we  might  call  the  civilization  of  lan- 
guage was  not  less  remarkable.  The  first  is  Bartho- 
lomew a  Sancta  Concordia,  also  a  Pisan,  who  flourished 
about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century.  He  wrote 
in  his  native  tongue,  and  his  little  work  entitled  "  Teaching 
of  the  Ancients,"  is  praised  by  Leonardo  Salviati,  who 
speaks  of  the  "  force,  brevity,  clearness,  beauty,  grace, 
sweetness,  purity,  and  simple  ease  which  are  there  to  be 
seen  expressed  in  language  worthy  of  the  best  era  or 
literature."  And  again  he  says,  "  This  work  is  written 
in  the  best  and  noblest  style  which  the  age  had  yet  pro- 
duced, and  it  would  be  fortunate  for  our  language  were 
the  volume  larger."  The  other  writer  to  whom  we  re- 
ferred is  Father  J.  Passavanti ;  and  his  "  Mirror  of  True 
Penance,"  originally  written  in  Latin,  but  translated  by 
his  own  hand  into  Italian,  is  thus  praised  by  the  editor  of 
the  Della-Cruscan  Academy,  who  undertook  a  reprint  of 
the  work  in  1861 : — "  The  <  Mirror  of  True  Penance,'  by 
Father  -Pussavanti,  a  Florentine  by  birth,  and  a  Dom- 
inican by  religious  profession,  written  in  the  style  of  his 
day,  but  adorned  with  the  purest  of  gold  of  the  most  refined 
eloquence,  has  gained  a  more  than  ordinary  applause, 
both  for  the  sacred  matter  it  contains  and  the  charm  and 

■fcMarchese,  quoted  from  Loander  Albert. 


ITS  INFLUENCE  ON  LITERATURE.        241 

beauty  of  its  composition.  And  as  many  have  thought  that 
it^night  without  disadvantage  be  compared  with  the  writ- 
ings of  the  most  learned  among  the  first  fathers  of  the 
Church,  so  we  may  also  consider  it  as  inferior  to  none  of  the 
choicest  and  most  renowned  masters  of  the  Tuscan  tongue." 
These  men,  together  with  another  Dominican  preacher, 
Domenico  Cavalca,  are  named  by  Pignotti  among  the  fathers 
of  Italian  literature. 

Poetry,  too,  the  most  popular  of  all  branches  of  litera- 
ture, was  not  without  receiving  some  influence  from  the 
order  whose  mission  was  to  popularize  the  faith  by  infusing 
it  into  science,  and  to  teach  men  through  all  channels 
and  by  all  ways.  We  have  already  alluded  to  the  power 
of  its  theology  over  the  muse  of  Dante.  Without  such 
a  check,  what  might  not  have  been  the  ftite  of  that 
wild  and  daring  genius  ?  But  in  him,  happier  than  so 
many  to  whom  the  laurel  has  been  a  poisoned  wreath, 
imagination  owned  the  mastery  of  faith,  and  his  imperishable 
verses  bear  on  to  all  ages  the  dogmas  of  the  angelic  doctor. 
And  if  the  Dominicans  may  thus  half  claim  the  poet  as 
their  theologian,  they  may  more  than  half  claim  for  their 
great  theologian  the  laurel  of  the  poet.  None  can  read 
those  beautiful  hymns  of  the  Church,  given  to  her  by 
the  inspired  pen  of  S.  Thomas,*  without  acknowledging 
their  poetic  as  well  as  their  devotional  excellence.  And  this 
is  yet  more  true  of  what  we  may  fearlessly  venture  to 
call  one  of  the  finest  lyrics  in  any  language, — we  mean  the 
"Dies  Iroe,"  a  production  which,  though  its  authorship 
is  contested,  is  most  commonly  attributed,  and  with  the 
greatest  appearance  of  probability,  to  the  Dominican 
Cardinal  Latino  Malabranca,  or  Frangipani,  who  died  in 
the  year  1294. 

The  greater  part  of  the  preaching  talent  of  the  order 
has,  of  course,  left  no  monument  behind  it  which  might 
enable  us  to  measure  the  work  done  by  it,  or  the  intel- 
lect which  produced  it.  We  gather  only  a  general,  and 
certainly   an    astonishing,    idea   of    the   greatness   of   the 

"The  "Adoro  Te "  "Pange  Lingua,"  "Verbum  Supernum," 
'Lauda  Sion."  and  "0  Sacris  Solemniis." 


242  THE  DOMINICAN  ORDER. 

mediaeval  preachers  by  the  position  which  their  office 
assumes  in  the  history  of  the  times.  What  wonderful 
pictures,  almost  remantic  in  their  colouring,  may  be 
found,  for  instance,  in  the  lives  of  saints  such  as  S.  An 
thony  of  Padua  among  the  Friars  Minors,  or  Blessed 
Matthew  Carrerio  among  the  Dominicans,  or  a  hundred 
others  who  might  be  named,  and  who  really  seemed  to 
have  the  world  at  their  command  by  the  force  of  their 
eloquence.  Half  the  influence  produced  by  these  orders 
on  society  is  beyond  our  power  to  estimate,  for  it  was 
exerted  by  their  daily  association  with  men,  and  the 
power  of  their  personal  words  or  presence.  Hitherto, 
let  it  be  remembered,  the  sanctity  and  learning  of  the 
cloister,  and  that  wondrous,  indescribable  power  felt  even 
by  those  who  most  abhor  it,  which  is  possessed  over  the 
world  by  the  men  who  have  renounced  it  for  ever, — 
all  this  had  been  for  the  most  part  withdrawn  from 
the  popular  view;  and  the  deserts  of  Citeaux  or  the 
Chartreuse,  or  the  craggy  summits  of  Monte  Cassino, 
shut  out  religion  from  the  familiar  eye  of  men.  Now  it 
was  in  their  streets;  the  poor  could  gaze  at  it  and  be 
familiar  with  it,  for  it  came  under  the  garb  of  poverty ; 
the  rich  and  the  learned  felt  its  sway,  for  under  the 
ragged  tunic  there  lay  those  high  gifts  whose  power  they 
were  forced  to  own  resistless.  The  influence  of  religion 
and  education  thus  popularized,  and  widely  diffused  in  its 
living  representatives,  must  have  been  something  equal 
to,  if  not  surpassing,  the  modern  action  on  society  of  the 
press.  We  can  scarce  open  a  book  which  treats  of  these 
times,  without  meeting  with  some  additional  evidence  of 
this.  The  friars  were  the  favourite  confessors  of  kings, 
and  their  coarse  habits  were  familiar  in  the  gayest  courts  ; 
yet  they  were  also  the  brethren  and  companions  of  the 
poor.  Most  of  our  popular  devotions,  those  best  adapted 
to  sink  into  the  hearts  of  the  common  people,  and  by 
their  very  simplicity  to  win  for  themselves  universal 
acceptation  in  the  Church,  have  come  to  us  through  the 
hands  of  the  friars.  Thus  the  devotion  of  the  Stations 
of  the  Cross,  is  said  to  have  originated  with  the  Blessed 
Alvaro  of  Cordova,  of  the  Order  of  Friars  Preachers, 


ITS  INFLUENCE   ON   SOCIETY.  243 

of  whom  we  are  told,  in  the  breviary-office  on  his  feast, 
that  he  constructed  in  his  convent  of  Scala  Coeli,  representa- 
tions of  all  the  holy  places  of  Palestine  connected  with  the 
Passion,  so  disposed  that  each  of  the  mysteries  of  our 
redemption  was  thus  exhibited  together,  and  that  after 
his  time  this  pious  custom  spread  to  other  convents.  In 
later  times,  we  know,  it  has  found  its  chief  propagators 
in  the  sister  Order  of  S.  Francis.  Again  the  Angelus, 
that  most  popular,  and,  as  one  might  say,  most  Christian- 
izing of  all  minor  devotions,  bringing  as  it  does  the 
thought  of  Christ  incarnate  to  men's  minds  thrice  a  day, 
and  forcing  them  by  a  sweet  compulsion  to  kneel  and 
worship  in  the  field  or  the  thoroughfare,  whenever  the 
bell  for  the  Ave  Maria  falls  on  their  ear,  was  first 
instituted  by  S.  Bonaventura,  and  propagated  among 
the  people  by  his  directions  after  the  general  chapter  of 
the  Friars  Minors  held  at  Pisa  in  1262.  The  influence  of 
the  Rosary,  the  peculiar  devotion  of  the  Dominican 
order,  it  is  impossible  to  over-estimate.  It  has  been  the 
defence  of  the  faith  itself  against  heresy  and  unbelief, 
and  it  would  require  a  treatise  to  tell  of  all  the  wonders 
worked  on  society  by  this  one  devotion  alone.  Indeed, 
the  institution  of  all  kinds  of  lay  confraternities  for  devo- 
tional purposes  may  be  said  to  have  arisen  out  of  it  j  and 
these  associations  beginning  with  the  Dominicans,  were 
afterwards  taken  up  and  propagated  with  equal  ardour 
by  the  Franciscans;  so  that  in  the  annals  of  the  Friars 
Minors  the  first  establishment  of  these  pious  societies  is 
attributed  to  S.  Bonaventura. 

The  presence  of  the  friars  among  them  was  eagerly 
courted  by  a  grateful  people,  who  knew  that  the  white 
scapular  of  S.  Dominic,  or  the  cord  of  S.  Francis,  brought 
with  them  their  own  blessings.  How  often  do  we  find 
mention  of  this  hearty  welcome  of  the  mendicants  among 
the  people  to  whom  they  came  to  preach ;  an  enthusiasm 
which  in  some  degree  explains  their  rapid  extension  over 
Europe,  for  churches  and  monasteries  sprang  up  for 
them  wherever  they  appeared ;  and  we  are  told  that  after 
the  sermons  of  S.  Francis  it  was  common  for  the  people 
of  the  town  or  country  where  lie  preached  to  offer  to 
r  2 


244  THE    DOMINICAN    ORDER. 

build  a  convent.  It  vras  thus  that  the  mountain  of  Alvernia 
was  bestowed  on  him  by  Orlando,  where,  as  we  read  jai 
the  exquisite  chronicles  of  the  order,  on  his  sending  two 
of  his  brethren  to  take  possession  of  the  chapel  and 
monastery,  they  were  welcomed  to  the  solitude  by  the 
cries  of  the  birds  who  came  forth  to  greet  them.  And  if 
we  consider  the  works  of  active  charity  practised  by  the 
friars,  so  many  of  whom  fell  victims  in  their  services  to 
the  plague-stricken,  and  the  innumerable  hospitals  and 
institutes  of  mercy  that  owed  their  origin  to  them,  as  the 
orphanages  founded  by  S.  Vincent  Ferrer  in  almost  every 
city  of  Spain,  this  view  of  their  beneficial  influence  on 
society,  apart  from  their  writings  or  actual  apostolic 
labours,  may  be  largely  extended.  Nay,  were  we  to 
attempt  anything  like  an  examination  into  the  subject, 
we  might  startle  our  readers  by  the  variety  of  inventions 
and  institutions  of  practical  and  social  utility,*  quite  dis- 
tinct from  religion,  which  have  originated  with  the  friars 
of  both  orders,  and  which  show  at  once  their  kindly 
sympathy  with  the  people's  wants,  and  their  universal 
influence  for  the  amelioration  and  civilization  of  society. 
In  the  words  of  Balmez,  "  if  the  illustrious  Spaniard, 
Dominic  of  Guzman,  and  the  wonderful  man  of  Assisi, 
did  not  occupy  a  place  on  our  altars,  there  to  receive  the 
veneration  of  the  faithful  for  their  eminent  sanctity,  they 
would  deserve  to  have  statues  raised  to  them  by  the 
gratitude  of  society  and  humanity."  Then,  after  rapidly 
sketching  the  change  beginning  to  be  felt  in  Europe  at 
the  time  when  the  mendicants  first  arose,  he  proceeds  to 
draw  the  portrait  of  these  new  orders  in  words  which 
need  no  apology  for  their  insertion.  "  They  are  not,"  he 
says,  speaking  of  the  friars,  "  anchorites  living  in  remote 
deserts,  nor  monks  sheltered  in  rich  abbeys,  nor  clergy 
whose  functions  and  duties  are  confined  to  any  particular 
place ;  they  are  men  without  fixed  abodes,  and   who   are 

*  For  instance,  the  institution  of  the  "Mor  ~  di  Pieta,"  so  well 
known  in  Catholic  countries,  and  so  admiral  substitute  for  the 

pawn-broker's  shop,  is  to  be  attributed  to  a  friar  minor,  Barnabo  di 
Terni,  who  made  the  first  experiment  of  the  kind  at  Perugia  during 
the  pontificate  of  Leo  X. 


ITS   INFLUENCE   ON   SOCIETY.  245 

found  sometimes  in  populous  cities,  and  sometimes  in 
miserable  hamlets  ; — to-day,  in  the  midst  of  the  old  con- 
tinent, to-morrow  on  a  vessel  which  bears  them  on  peril- 
ous missions  to  the  remotest  countries  of  the  globe  ; 
sometimes  they  are  seen  in  the  palaces  of  kings,  enlight- 
ening their  councils  and  taking  part  in  the  highest 
affairs  of  state  ;  sometimes  in  the  dwellings  of  obscure 
families,  consoling  them  in  misfortune,  reconciling  their 
differences,  and  giving  them  advice  on  their  domestic 
affairs.  These  same  men  who  are  covered  with  glory  in 
the  chairs  of  the  universities,  teach  the  catechism  to 
children  in  the  humblest  boroughs  ;  illustrious  orators 
who  have  preached  in  courts  before  kings,  go  to  explain 
the  gospel  in  obscure  villages.  The  people  find  them 
everywhere,  and  meet  them  at  every  step — in  joy  and  in 
sorrow  ;  these  men  are  constantly  ready  to  take  part  in 
the  happy  festivities  of  a  baptism  which  fills  the  house 
with  joy,  or  to  lament  a  misfortune  which  has  just  covered 
it  with  mourning.  We  can  imagine,"  he  continues,  "  the 
force  and  ascendency  of  such  institutions.  Their  iufiu- 
ence  on  the  minds  of  nations  must  have  been  incalculable  : 
the  new  sects  which  had  aimed  at  misleading  the  multi- 
tude with  their  pestilent  doctrines,  found  themselves  face 
to  face  with  an  adversary  who  completely  conquered 
them.  They  had  thought  to  deceive  the  simple  by  the 
ostentation  of  austerity,  and  to  strike  the  imagination  by 
the  sight  of  exterior  mortification  and  poor  clothing  ; 
but  the  new  institutions  united  these  qualities  in  an 
extraordinary  degree  ;  and  the  true  doctrine  had  the 
same  attributes  which  error  had  assumed.  Violent 
declaimers  had  sought  to  take  possession  of  the  minds  of 
the  multitude  by  their  fiery  eloquence;  but  in  all  parts 
of  Europe,  we  meet  now  with  burning  orators,  pleading 
the  cause  of  truth,  who,  well  versed  in  the  passions,  ideas, 
and  tastes  of  the  people,  know  how  to  interest  them,  and 
use  in  defence  of  religion  what  others  avail  themselves  of 
to  attack  her.  They  are  found  wherever  they  are  wanted 
to  combat  the  efforts  of  sects.  Free  from  all  worldly 
ties,  belonging  to  no  particular  Church,  or  province,  or 
kingdom,  they  have  the  means  of  passing    rapidly   from 


246  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

one  region  to  another,  and  are  found  at  the  proper  time 
wherever  their  presence  is  most  urgently  required.',  * 

But  there  is  just  one  peculiarity  in  the  mission  of  the 
friars  to  society  at  large  on  which  we  must  briefly  touch  ; 
it  is  the  part  they  took  as  the  peacemakers  of  the  world. 
Whether  we  look  to  what  they  did  as  popular  mendi- 
cant preachers  scattered  over  the  face  of  the  world,  or  to 
the  influence  exerted  by  their  chiefs  and  great  dignitaries, 
we  shaji  always  find  the  same  spirit  evinced  ;  and  these 
persecutors  of  the  people,  and  enemies  of  freedom,  as 
some  have  loved  to  represent  them,  are  emphatically  men 
of  peace.  Beautiful  upon  the  earth  were  the  feet  of  those 
who  brought  the  glad  tidings  which  healed  the  feuds  and 
factions  of  those  turbulent  ages  :  of  some,  like  the 
English  Lawrence,  and  S.  Vincent  Ferrer,  we  read,  that 
they  never  left  a  town  or  village  without  having  chased 
away  all  hatreds  and  discords  from  the  place.  Others, 
like  Crescenti  in  Russia,  were  legates  of  peace  to  distant 
countries.  The  pontificates  of  two  of  the  Dominican 
Popes,  Innocent  V.  and  Benedict  XI.,  short  as  they  were, 
were  both  distinguished  by  successful  exertions  in  extin- 
guishing the  bloody  and  rival  factions  of  the  time. 
Cardinal  Latino  Frangipani  went  about  through  Italy  on 
this  heavenly  mission,  and  received  the  title  of  the  prince 
of  peace  ;  and  the  same  might  be  said  of  a  vast  number 
of  others  whose  names  would  fill  a  volume.f  But  that 
)ur  readers  may  form  some  idea  of  the  lovely  character 
sf  these  missions  of  peace,  we  will  add  a  passage  from 
the  life  of  the  blessed  Ventura  of  Bergamo.  He  was  one 
of  those  gentle  and  loving  men  whose  tenderness  draws 
to  their  feet  the  greatest  criminals,  whose  hardened  hearts 
ire  melted  by  their  charity  and  their  tears.  It  is 
thus  that  Oderic  Raynaldus  describes  his  labours  at 
Bergamo  in  the  cause  of  peace.  The  fruits  of  his  preach- 
ing were  visible  in  a  vast  crowd  of  penitents,  who  abjuring 
their  ancient  animosities,  were  formed  into  a  united  con- 
fraternity, and  conducted  by  the  blessed  father  on  a 
pilgrimage  to  Rome.     Thus,  at  the  time  when  the  lords 

*  "  Protestantism  and  Catholicism  Compared,"'  ch.  43. 

t  See  -  Mores  Catholici,"  book  ix.  ch.  12 


ITS   MISSION   OF   PEACE  247 

and  tyrants  of  Italy,  busy  with  the  thought  of  satisfy- 
ing their  ambition,  their  avarice,  and  their  cruelty,  were 
deluging  her  cities  with  blood,  Ventura,  full  of  zeal  for 
the  salvation  of  souls,  determined  to  oppose  to  these  devices 
of  the  demon  of  discord  a  holy  society  of  Christians,  who, 
led  by  a  different  spirit,  should  have  no  other  stand- 
ard than  the  cross,  and  no  other  device  than  the  three 
words,  "  Peace,  Penance,  and  Mercy."  These  pious 
pilgrims  to  the  number  of  10,000,  and  followed  by  an 
almost  infinite  multitude  of  people,  journeyed  along,  wear- 
ing white  robes,  with  a  little  cloak  of  a  blue  colour.  The 
cross  was  seen  on  one  side  of  their  habit,  and  on  the 
other  a  dove  with  an  olive  branch  in  its  mouth.  In 
their  hands  they  bore  instruments  of  penance,  and  still 
as  they  went  they  chanted  the  praises  of  God,  or  those 
oft-repeated  words,  "  Peace,  Penance  and  Mercy."  The 
order  they  preserved  in  their  march  filled  all  men  with 
admiration  ;  they  went  two  and  two,  and  kept  close 
to  the  rules  prescribed  by  their  holy  leader.  And  so 
they  travelled  till  they  reached  Rome,  where  they 
solemnly  sealed  the  reconciliation  of  all  their  feuds  on 
the  tomb  of  the  apostles.  We  are  assured  that  the 
spectacle  of  this  singular  procession,  and  the  very  sound 
of  the  words  they  repeated  as  they  marched,  brought 
peace  and  mercy  "  to  the  cities  through  which  they  passed, 
and  inspired  with  compunction  the  hearts  of  the  greatest 
sinners." 

We  read  the  same  of  almost  all  the  early  preachers 
of  the  order  ;  as  of  Angelo  of  Perugia,  the  angel  of 
peace  to  Florence,  "  where  he  caused  all  hatreds,  quar- 
rels and  ancient  feuds  to  cease,  and  reconciled  the  chief 
families  of  the  city."  Of  John  of  Vicenza  we  have  else- 
where spoken  ;  but  we  cannot  refrain  from  inserting 
in  this  place  the  description  given  us  of  his  labours  in  the 
words  of  an  ancient  historian  :  "  Never,"  he  says,  "  since 
the  time  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  were  there  seen  such 
multitudes  gathered  together  in  His  name,  as  were  assem- 
bled to  hear  this  friar  preach  peace.  He  had  such  power 
over  all  minds,  that  everywhere  he  was  suffered  to 
arrange   the   terms   of  reconciliation  ;    and  through  reve- 


248  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

rence  for  him  the  greater  part  of  the  multitude  used  to 
listen  to  him  with  bare  feet.  Many  who  had  been  mor 
tal  enemies,  moved  by  his  preaching,  of  their  own  accord 
embraced  and  gave  each  other  the  kiss  of  peace."*  And 
of  the  great  preaching  in  the  meadows  of  Verona,  we  read 
in  a  contemporary  chronicle  : — "  Such  a  multitude  assem- 
bled as  had  never  been  before  seen  in  Lombardy,  it  being 
by  the  river-side,  about  four  miles  from  Verona,  and  there 
he  proposed  the  authority  of  Christ,  S  Peace  I  give  to 
you,  my  peace  I  leave  with  you,'  and  preached  peace  to 
Lombardy  and  all  Italy,  adding  warnings  and  denuncia- 
tions against  any  who  should  dare  in  future  to  interrupt 
that  blessed  peace." 

We  must  return  from  the  digression,  which  seemed 
necessary  in  referring  to  the  influence  of  the  friars  on 
society,  so  much  of  which  was  exerted,  not  through  their 
writings,  but  by  the  effect  of  their  personal  presence  and 
intercourse  in  the  world  ;  and  which,  powerful  as  it  was, 
has  of  course  left  no  monuments  behind  it,  so  that  in 
many  cases  those  who  have  done  the  greatest  works  are 
the  least  known  to  posterity.  We  have  alluded  to  the 
preaching  of  Taulerus  and  Henry  Suso  ;  but  with  them 
the  case  has  been  different,  for  they  were  also  writers, 
and  their  worksf  which  remain  among  us  have  preserved 
their  fame,  and  conferred  on  them  a  high  rank   in  the 

*  Life  of  Riceiardus,  Count  of  S.  Bonifaee. 

t  We  are  glad  to  take  this  oportunity  of  reminding  our  readers 
that  the  admirable  work  of  Suso,  his  "  Little  Book  of  Eternal 
Wisdom,"  has  been  recently  translated  into  English,  and  it  is  ito  be 
hoped  that  his  beautiful  life  will  soon  also  be  known  among  us. 
Nor  can  we  omit  in  this  place  quoting  the  words  of  one  of  the 
greatest  modern  writers  of  Germany, Frederic  Sehlegel,  as  h?  con- 
trasts the  Language  of  the  Catholic  ages,  with  that  which  has  pre- 
vailed since  the  rise  of  Protestantism.  "  Besides  a  Kempis," 
he  says,  "  there  are  several  other  religious  writers  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  and  even  of  an  earlier  period,  who,  though  less  known, 
were  distinguished  by  a  similar  spirit,  partly  among  those  who  used 
the  Latin  ian°uuge,  then  universally  current,  and  partly  among 
those  who,  like  Taulerus,  made  the  German  the  vehicle  of  their 
thoughts.  Were  we  to  compare  the  gentle  simplicity,  the  charming 
clearness  of  thought  and  expression  which  reign  in  the  wor  s  of 
these  writers,  with  the  productions  of  the  following  age  of  bar- 
barous polemic  strife,  we  should  be  furnished  with  the  best  eriteiioa 
for  duly  appreciating  the  earlier  and  the  later  period." 


ORIENTAL    LEARNING.  249 

school  of  mystic  theology.  But,  as  we  have  before  said, 
it  was  not  merely  as  theologians  that  the  Dominicans 
distinguished  themselves  in  this  first  century  of  their 
career.  The  part  they  took  in  the  general  revival  of 
learning  was  equally  great,  and  we  may  particularly  refer 
to  their  cultiviation  of  the  Oriental  languages,  a  study 
which  has  been  always  in  a  particular  manner  cherished 
by  the  order.  It  was  John  the  Tewtonic,  the  fourth 
general  of  the  Friars  Preachers,  who,  at  the  general 
chapter  at  Metz  in  the  year  1251,  added  the  greater 
part  of  those  statutes  to  the  constitutions  which  refer  to 
the  regulation  of  the  studies ;  and  it  was  to  him,  in  com- 
pany with  S.  Raymund  Pennafort,  that  we  may  attribute 
their  first  direction  to  the  cultivation  of  Oriental  litera- 
ture. Not  that  these  great  men  can  at  all  claim  to  be 
the  first  who  rendered  this  branch  of  learning  popular  in 

It  is  a  little  singular  that  Schlegel  should  not  have  more  parti- 
cularly alluded  to  Henry  Suso,  whose  works  might  be  more  fairly 
compared,  in  point  of  style,  with  those  of  Thomas  a  Kempis,  than 
the  writings  of  Taulerus.  He  might  have  added,  that,  along  with 
the  charm  of  simplicity,  these  early  German  writers  have  a  depth 
of  pathos,  and  a  beauty  of  imagination  unknown  to  the  controver- 
sialists of  modern  times.  Nothing,  we  suppose,  can  go  beyond  the 
winning  plaintiveness  of  Suso's  style ;  and  both  he  and  Taulerus 
are,  as  it  were,  personally  made  known  to  us  in  the  singular  and 
exquisite  biographies  which  are  attached  to  their  works.  We  may 
add,  that  for  those  who  find  ihe  Germanism  of  blessed  ^uso  a  little 
rugged  in  his  English  dress,  Monsieur  E.  Cartier  has  furnished  a 
modern  French  version  which  is  everything  they  can  desire. 

We  can  but  hope  that  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  the  bio- 
graphy and  writings  of  Taulerus  may  also  find  an  English  trans- 
lator. It  was  the  consideration  of  the  advantages  to  be  gathered 
from  the  study  of  his  works  that  obliged  Cardinal  Bellarmine  to  give, 
him  the  just  and  glorious  title  of"  a  preacher  eminent  for  piety  and 
learning;"  and  the  celebrated  Louis  of  Blois,  who  defended  the 
purity  of  hi3  teaching  against  the  indiscreet  and  uncharitable  zeal 
of  those  who  sought  to  bring  suspicion  on  it,  boldly  calls  him  "  the 
zealous  defender  of  the  Catholic  faith,  whose  writings  are  not  merely 
orthodox,  but  even  divine."  A  celebrated  prelate  of  France,  more- 
over (Sponde,  bishop  of  Pamiers),  who  has  continued  the  history  of 
Cardinal  Baronius,  hesitates  not  to  assert  that il  he  is  a  man  worthy 
of  all  admiration,  and  that  his  works  are  full  of  the  unction  and 
grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit;"  to  which  he  adds  a  very  remarkable 
fact,  namely,  "  that  by  a  kind  of  prophetic  spirit  he  has  predicted 
the  heresies  which  only  rose  in  later  ages,  and  groaned  in  tender- 
ness over  those  wounds  of  the  Church  which  are  rut  raflicted  till 
long  after  his  death.''  (From  the  advertisment  prefixed  to  tho 
French  translation  of  the  Institutions  of  Taulerus,  1681.) 


250  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

Europe.  During  the  Moorish  dominion  in  Spain  the 
Arabic  philosophy,  grounded  as  it  was  on  the  writings  of 
Aristotle,  had  become  the  rage  in  Europe;  and  we  know 
that  the  ardour  with  which  it  was  pursued  in  the  13th 
century  appeared  so  dangerous  and  excessive  to  Innocent 
III.  as  to  call  forth  from  him  a  decided  censure.  But 
with  the  Dominicans  Orientalism  was  cherished,  not  from 
the  love  of  vain  philosophy,  but,  as  became  their  apostolic 
vocation,  as  an  assistance  and  necessary  instrument  in 
the  defence  of  the  Christian  faith.  The  Jews  and  Moors 
were  in  those  days  the  formidable  adversaries  of  religion ; 
they  possessed  many  sources  of  learning  shut  out  from 
the  Christians ;  and  the  fact  that  the  "  Summa"  of  S. 
Thomas  was  principally  directed  against  their  contro- 
versialists, may  give  us  some  idea  of  the  position  they 
then  held  as  enemies  of  the  faith.  Spain  was  the  great 
battle-field  of  Christianity  against  infidelity,  and  it  was 
there  that,  among  his  other  great  labours,  S.  Kaymund  of 
Pennafort  used  his  influence  with  the  kings  of  Arragon 
and  Castile  for  the  establishment  of  colleges  for  the 
express  study  of  the  Oriental  languages,  as  an  indispensa- 
ble weapon  to  be  used  in  the  disputes  with  the  Jewish 
and  Mahometan  doctors.  To  him  also  the  world  proba- 
bly owes  the  great  work  of  S.  Thomas  to  which  we  have 
just  referred,  for  we  are  told  that  it  was  written  at  his 
request  and  suggestion.  Nor  were  his  efforts  without 
success  :  Christianity  seemed  to  make  instant  head 
against  the  infidels  on  the  adoption  of  those  studies  in 
the  colleges  of  the  order;  and  Clement  VIII.  did  not 
hesitate  to  say  that  by  the  introduction  of  Hebrew  and 
Arabic  learning  S.  Raymund  had  contributed  to  the  glory 
both  of  Spain  and  of  the  Church,  and  been  the  cause  of 
the  conversion  of  thousands.  In  fact,  we  have  his  own 
testimony  in  a  letter  to  Humbert,  the  successor  of  John 
the  Teutonic  in  the  government  of  the  order,  that  no 
fewer  than  10,000  Saracens  had  been  received  to  the 
Christian  faith,  since  the  commencement  of  these  studies, 
and,  among  them,  many  of  their  most  learned  men.  The 
cultivation  of  the  Greek  and  Hebrew  languages  is  ex- 
pressly provided  for  in  the  constitutions;    and  we  shall 


ITS   GREAT   GENERALS.  251 

find  on  examination  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  the 
great  writers  of  the  order  have  been  chiefly  distinguished 
for  their  proficiency  in  these  studies,  and  in  those  so 
closely  connected  with  them,  namely  Biblical  learning  and 
criticism.* 

We  cannot  of  course  propose  to  ourselves  to  give  even 
the  names  of  all  who  claim  our  notice  as  stars  in  the 
Dominican  heaven;  but  the  mention  of  Biblical  learning 
suggests  one,  even  in  those  early  times,  too  distinguished 
for  his  services  in  that  branch  of  science  to  be  passed 
over  in  silence;  this  was  Hugo  a  Sancto  Charo,  the  first 
cardinal  of  the  order,  and  the  author  of  the  first  Concord- 
ance of  the  Bible  ever  attempted.  Mariana  tells  us  that 
no  fewer  than  500  religious  of  the  order  laboured  at  this 
great  work  under  his  direction,  and  that  those  after- 
wards compiled  by  the  Jews  and  Greaks  were  in  imita- 
tion of  it ;  nor  can  we  over-estimate  the  encouragement 
which  such  a  work  must  have  given  to  the  study  of  the 
Sacred  Text.  His  piety  was  equal  to  his  learning,  and 
his  exertions  had  no  small  share  in  the  establishment  of 
the  feast  of  Corpus  Christi;  the  devotion  to  the  Blessed 
Sacraments  being  one  of  the  objects  to  the  propagation  of 
which  he  may  be  said  to  have    dedicated  his  life. 

But  the  learning  of  the  Dominican  order  was  the  least 
remarkable  feature  which  it  displayed  during  the  first 
century  of  its  existence.  We  may  venture  to  point  to 
its  great  men,  as  men,  and  to  the  singular  force  and  hero- 
ism of  their  character  as  offering  the  best  explanation  of 
the  rapid  extension  of  their  institute  over  the  world. 
Let  us  take  the  first  five  generals  of  the  order  after  the 
death  of  S.  Dominic.  We  can  hardly  picture  to  ourselves 
a  group  of  more  remarkable  and  admirable  characters. 
There  was  the  blessed  Jordan  with  his  divine  simplicity, 
his  good-humored  bonhomie  of  disposition,  and  his  fear- 
less courage,  which  prompted  him  to  utter  the  boldest 
truths  even  to  such  men  as  Frederick  II.  There  was 
S.  Raymund  of  Pennafort  (for  the  Friars  Preachers  were 

*  Blessed  James  of  Voragine,  archbishop  of  Genoa,  known  as  the 
author  of  the  Golden  Legend,  was  the  first  translator  of  the  Bible 
into  the  Vulgar  tongue.  His  Italian  version  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  was  made  in  1254,  or  thereabouts. 


252  THE    DOMIFICAN    ORDER 

happy  in  this  also,  that  they  were  ruled  in  those  early 
ages  by  a  dynasty  of  saints),  but  of  him  we  shall  presently 
have  to  speak  more  particularly.  Then  comes  John  the 
Teutouic,  the  fearless  preacher  of  peace,  whose  bold  re- 
bukes, strangely  enough,  like  those  of  blessed  Jordan, 
also  won  the  friendship  and  confidence  of  Frederick.  Not- 
withstanding the  extraordinary  difficulty  of  his  position, 
placed  as  he  was  between  the  contending  interests  of  the 
Pope  and  the  emperor,  he  displayed  a  firmness  and 
prudence  which  would  have  proved  equal  to  the  govern- 
ment of  a  kingdom.  Under  him  the  order  is  thought  to 
have  attained  its  highest  glory,  and  his  generalship  may 
be  considered  the  most  brilliant  period  of  its  history. 
Paris,  Bologna,  Cologne,  Montpellier,  and  London,  wit- 
nessed those  chapters  of  the  Friars  Preachers  which  were 
recognized  as  the  assemblies  of  saints.  Our  readers  will 
pardon  us  for  inserting  an  extract  from  the  letter  addressed 
to  the  Prior  of  Montpellier  by  Guy  Fulcodi,  afterwards 
Pope  Clement  IV.  He  had  come  to  town,  in  company 
with  his  sister,  to  witness  the  deliberations  of  the  fathers. 
It  was  the  festival  of  Pentecost,  and  it  is  thus  he  describes 
the  scene;  "We  entered  your  church,  where,  whilst  she 
[his  sister]  prayed,  humbly  prostrate  on  the  ground,  and 
entreated  the  Lord  to  look  favourably  on  so  many  of  those 
who  laboured  for  His  glory,  she  felt  her  confidence  increase 
with  her  importunity ;  and  as  the  choir  intoned  the  l  Veni 
Creator,1  she  beheld  descending  from  on  high  a  great  flame 
which  covered  all  the  choir  and  remained  above  them  till 
the  conclusion  of  the  hymn." 

What  shall  we  say  of  the  blessed  Humbert,  the  suc- 
cessor of  John,  and  the  author  of  those  Chronicles  whose 
charm  and  grace  have  surely  never  been  surpassed  ?  Who 
can  read  his  letters  to  his  brethren,  and  not  feel  his  own 
heart  kindled  with  some  touch  of  that  heroic  zeal  which 
breathes  in  every  line!  What  noble  and  elevating 
thoughts,  what  a  great  and  gallant  spirit,  must  have  dwelt 
in  the  heart  that  thus  pours  forth  its  animating  exhorta- 
tions, ever  reiterating  the  old  battle-cry  of  the  order, 
"God's  honour,  and  the  salvation  of  souls!"  And  in  all 
these   men,  with  all   their  splendid  qualities,  how  vainly 


ITS   INFLUENCE   ON   POLITICS.  253 

should  we  look  to  find  one  spark  of  that  ambition  so 
common  with  the  simply  great  men,  whose  greatness  is 
not  linked  to  the  humility  of  the  saint.  S.  Kaymund 
resigned  his  office,  having  held  it  only  two  years.  Hum- 
bert did  the  same  at  the  chapter  of  London,  after  a 
government  of  no  more  than  nine  years.  "  He  has  been 
considered,"  says  Touron,  "  as  the  perfect  model  of  a  wise, 
zealous,  and  vigilant  superior;  able  to  bear  with  the 
infirmities  of  the  weak,  but  incapable  of  admitting  aught 
that  could  enervate  the  vigour  of  regular  discipline."  He 
was  a  great  writer,  and  even  in  our  own  day  the  order  feels 
his  influence,  and  may  drink  his  spirit  in  the  various  com- 
mentaries and  explanations  on  the  Rules  and  Constitutions 
which  he  has  left  behind  him, 

Again,  as  confessors  and  spiritual  guides  to  the  people, 
the  influence  of  the  friars  was  felt  even  more  universally 
than  as  preachers  or  men  of  learning.  As  the  counsellors 
of  kings,  they  had  a  vast  share  in  giving  that  Christian 
tone  to  the  government  of  the  day  which  is  so  striking  a 
feature  in  the  history  of  the  thirteenth  century.  For 
instance,  where  can  we  look  for  higher  ideals  of  Christian 
monarchy  than  in  the  examples  of  S.  Louis  of  France, 
James  of  Arragon,  Alphonsus  III.  of  Portugal,  and  S.  Fer- 
dinand of  Castile  ?  They  are  the  noblest  types  of  royalty 
which  the  mind  can  picture,  and  have  excited  the  enthu- 
siasm even  of  Protestant  eulogists.  Yet  it  is  impossible 
to  doubt  that  much  of  that  sanctity  which  renders  them 
so  admirable,  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  character  of  their 
spiritual  advisers,  and  these  were  all  Dominicans.  S.  Peter 
Gonzales  was  the  confessor  of  S.  Ferdinand;  Geoffrey  de 
Beaulieu  held  the  same  office  to  S.  Louis  of  France; 
S.  Raymund  of  Pennafort  enjoyed  the  unlimited  con- 
fidence of  James  of  Arragon;  and,  in  short,  we  are  told 
that,  during  the  government  of  John  the  Teutonic,  the 
kings  of  France,  England,  Castile,  Arragon,  Portugal,  and 
Hungary,  invariably  chose  their  confessors  and  chaplains 
from  the  ranks  of  the  Friars  Preachers.  The  whole  his- 
tory of  such  men  as  S.  Peter  Gonzales  and  S.  Raymund 
exhibits  them  to  us  in  what  we  might  call  a  semi-political 
character,  labouring  to  sanctify  a  royal  court  and  army; 


254  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

and  though  S.  Raymund's  eminence  as  a  canonist,  and  the 
celebrity  of  his  works  on  penance,  as  well  as  the  fact  of  his 
having  had  so  large  a  share  in  the  formation  of  the  Consti- 
tutions of  his  order,  entitle  him  to  rank  as  one  of  its  most 
distinguished  writers,  yet  it  is  not  as  an  author  that  we 
know  him  best :  by  those  who  are  familiar  with  his  life  he 
is  rather  remembered  as  a  great  man  and  a  great  saint. 
And  because  authorship  is  at  best  but  a  human  thing, 
we  will  leave  it  for  a  moment  to  glance  at  one  episode  in 
the  life  of  S.  Raymund  which  is  connected  with  another 
of  the  glories  of  his  order;  its  influence,  namely,  in  the 
formation  and  reform  of  other  religious  bodies.  In  the 
same  work,  from  which  we  have  already  made  such  fre- 
quent quotations,  Balmez  distinguishes,  as  among  the 
most  remarkable  institutions  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
the  rise  of  the  orders  for  the  redemption  of  captives. 
Certainly,  in  days  when  the  abolition  of  slavery  has  been 
so  popular  a  theme,  and  freedom  so  national  a  boast,  there 
should  be  peculiar  sympathy  for  the  work  of  heroic  charity 
to  which  the  two  Institutes  of  Mercy  and  the  Trinity  so 
nobly  devoted  themselves.  The  latter,  indeed,  we  may 
almost  claim  as  an  English  order,  so  large  a  share  had 
our  own  nation  in  its  first  foundation*  and  government ; 
while  its  calendar  of  saints  and  martyrs  is  enriched  with  a 
catalogue  of  English  names  which  England  has  well-nigh 
forgotten. 

The  deep  sympathy  felt  by  the  Order  of  Preachers 
for  this  work  of  the  redemption  of  captives  is  evident 
from  many  facts.  We  have  in  a  previous  page  related 
how  S.  Dominic  himself  was  on  one  occasion  so  moved 
by  the  sufferings  of  his  captive  brethren,  as  to  offer  to 
be  sold  to  the  Moors  in  order  to  procure  the  redemption 
of  a  poor  woman's  son.     Many  writers  of  the  order  add, 

■;:-  Among  the  fellow-students  of  S.  John  of  Matha  in  the  univer- 
sity of  Paris,  who  first  joined  his  order,  were  .John  of  England, 
William  of  Scotland,  and  Roger  Dee,  also  an  Englishman,  and  a 
learned  doctor  of  the  day.  John  and  William  were  the  chief  co- 
operators  with  the  holy  founder  in  the  beginning  of  his  enterprise, 
and  successively  governed  the  order  after  his  death  ;  whilst  among 
its  canonized  saints  is  the  English  martyr  S.  Serapion,  with  others 
of  less  note. 


THE   REDEMPTION^  OP   CAPTIVES.  255 

that  he  had  resolved  at  one  time  to  consecrate  his  life  to 
this  undertaking,  but  that  God  made  known  to  him  by  a 
particular  revelation  that  it  was  the  work  reserved  for  S. 
John  of  Matha,  and  that  his  calling  was  rather  to  labour 
for  the  conversion  of  heretics.  We  may  consider  it  almost 
certain,  that  these  two  great  men  were  known  to  one 
another,  and  that  S.  John  did  actually  co-operate  with 
S.  Dominic  in  his  labours  among  the  Albigenses  ;  for  it  is 
said  that  in  the  year  1202  he  was  charged  by  Pope  Inno- 
cent III.  with  a  mission  to  the  Count  of  Toulouse  and 
the  Albigenses,  and  that  he  preached  in  Languedoc  on 
his  return  from  the  court  of  Rome  to  Spain  ;  which 
seems  the  more  probable  from  the  fact  of  his  order 
having  been  at  that  time  established  in  Provence.  If 
then,  as  seems  likely,  the  two  founders  were  personally 
known  to  one  another,  we  may  imagine  how  deep  must 
have  been  the  sympathy  of  minds  whose  objects  and  desires 
were  so  alike. 

It  is  not,  however,  of  the  Trinitarian  Order  that  we 
are  about  to  speak  in  this  place,  but  of  the  sister  Order 
of  Mercy,  in  whose  establishment  S.  Raymond  Pennatbrt 
had  so  large  a  share,  and  whose  founder  was  also,  as  is 
more  than  probable,  a  familiar  friend  of  S.  Dominic  ; 
for  the  first  time  we  meet  with  the  name  of  S.  Peter 
Nolasco,  it  is  as  a  crusader  in  the  army  of  Count  Simon  de 
Montfort.  At  the  victory  of  Muret,  Peter,  then  twenty- 
five  years  of  age,  played  a  distinguished  part ;  and  when, 
on  the  death  of  King  Peter  of  Arragon,  the  fortune  of 
war  threw  his  infant  son,  Prince  James,  into  the  hands 
of  the  conqueror,  De  Montfort,  with  the  chivalrous 
feeling  for  which  he  was  so  remarkable,  having  a  tender 
regard  and  compassion  for  his  little  prisoner,  selected 
the  young  soldier,  as  the  bravest  and  noblest  of  his 
knights,  to  be  the  guardian  and  tutor  of  the  prince,  and 
sent  them  both  back  to  Barcelona,  then  the  chief  re- 
sidence of  the  court  of  Arragon.  To  this  brave  and  truly 
Christian  soldier  Kinsr  James  owed  the  blessings  of  his 
religious  education,  and  had  reason  to  look  back  on  the 
defeat  of  Muret  as  one  of  the  chief  blessings  of  his  life. 
If  the   infancy  of  the   prince  was   thus   connected   with 


256  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

one  of  the  great  incidents  in  the  life  of  S.  Dominic,  his 
manhood  was  passed  under  the  guidance  and  influence 
of  the  order  of  preachers  j  for  S.  Raymund  of  Pennafori 
was,  as  we  have  said,  his  most  intimate  adviser,  and  held 
the  office  of  confessor  both  to  him  and  to  S.  Peter 
Nolasco.  The  circumstances  which  led  to  the  foundation 
of  the  Order  of  Mercy  are  among  those  supernatural 
events,  the  evidenee  of  which  has  been  placed  beyond 
the  possibility  of  a  doubt.  On  the  same  night,  the 
Blessed  Virgin  appeared  in  three  distinct  visions  to  8. 
Peter,  King  James,  and  S.  Raymund,  and  charged  them 
to  commence  the  establishment  of  an  order  for  the 
redemption  of  captives  among  the  Moors,  promising 
them  her  patronage  and  assistance.  It  was  at  once  begun, 
and  on  the  feast  of  S.  Lawrence,  1223,  the  king  and 
S.  Raymund  led  S.  Peter  to  the  Cathedral  church  of 
Barcelona,  where  the  bishop  Berengarius  received  his 
religious  profession,  adding  to  the  three  essential  vows 
of  religion  one  to  devote  his  life,  substance,  and  liberty 
to  the  randsoming  of  slaves.  Then  was  presented  one  of 
those  striking  scenes  so  common  in  the  ages  of  faith  : 
S.  Raymund  ascended  the  pulpit,  and  annonnced  to  the  as- 
sembled people  the  Divine  revelation  which  had  given 
rise  to  this  foundation,  and  declared  the  manner  with  which 
the  will  of  God  and  the  favour  of  Mary  had  been  made 
known  at  once  to  himself,  the  king,  and  the  saint  who  stood 
before  them ;  after  which  he  gave  the  habit  of  the  new 
order  to  S.  Peter  with  his  own  hands,  as  we  learn  on  the 
authority  of  Mariana. 

The  constitutions  of  the  Order  of  Mercy,  as  it  was 
thenceforward  designated,  were  entirely  drawn  up  by 
S.  Raymund,  whose  peculiar  skill  in  this  branch  ox 
legislation  was  well  known  ;  and  he  is  even  reckon  ati 
as  its  second  founder.  But  nothing  in  connection  with 
this  singular  history  has,  as  it  seems  to  us,  a  deeper 
interest  than  the  words  of  the  saint  himself,  still  pre- 
served in  the  letter  of  S.  Peter  Nolasco  ;  in  which,  when 
many  years  had  passed  over  their  heads,  he  remi.uls 
him  of  that  eventful  night,  when  both  of  them  had 
gazed    upon    the    face  of    Mary.     For    S.    Peter,    over- 


s.  raymund's  letter  to  s.  peter  nolasco.    257 

burthened  by  the  charge  of  superiority,  at  one  time 
thought  of  imitating  the  example  of  S.  Raymund  and 
laying  down  the  government  of  his  order,  to  seek  repose 
in  a  humbler  and  more  obscure  position.  S.  Raymund, 
however,  well  knew  the  necessity  of  his  continuing  at 
the  head  of  the  institute  he  had  founded  ;  and  the  letter 
by  which  he  succeeded  in  turning  him  from  his  design  is 
still  extant.  He  had  himself  resigned  the  mastership  of 
the  Order  of  Preachers,  and  was  forced  to  use  much 
ingenious  humility  to  pursuade  his  friend  that  in  so 
doing  he  had  not  given  him  a  precedent.  Then  he 
continues  in  the  following  terms  :  "  But  for  you,  dear 
brother,  rejoice  in  the  Lord ;  or  at  any  rate  afflict  not 
yourself  because  you  see  yourself  at  the  head  of  your 
order  ;  for  it  is  not  your  own  choice,  but  the  very  oracle 
of  the  Mother  of  God  that  has  placed  you  there.  To 
what  other  pastor  has  that  Queen  of  Virgins  ever  said, 
'  Feed  my  sheep  ? '  Would  you  then  resist  her  will  ? 
I  cannot  think  this  of  you.  I  conjure  you,  by  the  holy 
love  we  must  all  bear  that  Blessed  Virgin,  never  to 
abandon  the  flock  she  has  entrusted  to  your  care.  Re- 
call, dear  father,  the  thought  so  sweet  and  consoling  of 
that  happy  night,  illumined,  as  it  seemed,  by  a  ray  of 
Eternity,  when  your  merits  made  me  also  to  share  in  the 
blessedness  of  the  heavenly  citizens.  I  mean  that  night 
when  we  were  both  honoured  by  the  visible  appearance 
of  Her  whose  divine  beauty  surpassed  the  beauty  and 
brightness  of  the  sun.  Ah  !  how  can  you  ever  yield  to 
sadness — you  who  have  been  consoled  by  the  choirs  of 
angels,  and  by  the  favourable  looks  of  Her  who  con- 
ceived the  very  Word  of  God  ?  Could  it  have  been  for 
the  loss  of  any  one  ?  or  must  it  not  have  been  for  the 
salvation  of  those  who  were  perishing  that  the  Mother 
of  mercy  thus  deigned  to  show  herself  to  her  ser- 
vants ?  If,  therefore,  it  is  any  sentiment  of  humility 
which  urges  you  to  resign  your  rank,  remember  in  what 
manner  you  were  called  to  it,  and  be  persuaded  that 
what  is  contrary  to  that  Divine  vocation  can  never  come 
from  God."  There  is  something  of  most  thrilling  in- 
terest in  this  allusion  to  the  vision  of  Mary  ;  nor  can  we 

S 


258  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

recall  anything  in  the  lives  of  the  saints  which  more 
realizes  a  supernatural  visitation  than  these  words,  in 
which  the  recollection  is  so  tenderly  and  devoutly  brought 
to  mind. 

In  alluding  to  other  orders  in  whose  foundation  or 
reformation  the  Dominicans  have  taken  part,  the  order 
of  Semites,  or  Servants  of  Mary,  should  not  be  forgotten. 
The  singular  origin  of  this  order  is  probably  familiar  to 
many  of  our  readers.  Seven  rich  merchants  of  Florence, 
members  of  a  devout  confraternity  dedicated  to  "  our 
Lady  of  praise,"  were  praying  in  the  oratory  of  their 
confraternity  on  the  festival  of  the  Assumption,  when 
each  felt  himself  moved  by  a  secret  and  powerful  impulse 
to  dedicate  himself  in  some  special  way  to  God  and  our 
Lady.  Communicating  their  impressions  to  one  another, 
they  resolved  on  distributing  all  their  wealth  to  the  poor, 
and  abandoning  the  world  to  embrace  an  austere  and 
eremitical  life.  They  accordingly  retired  to  some  cells 
on  Monte  Senario,  about  six  miles  from  the  city,  and  on 
their  first  appearance  in  the  streets  of  Florence  in  the 
rough  penitential  habit  they  had  assumed,  the  people  to 
whom  their  persons  were  familiar,  gathered  about  them 
with  surprise,  and  the  children  ran  after  them  crying 
out  "  See  !  there  go  the  servants  of  Mary  !"  This  cry 
was,  it  is  said,  repeated  by  an  infant  of  five  years  old 
who  was  carried  by  in  his  nurse's  arms.  The  child  was 
afterwards  S.  Philip  Beniti,  the  great  ornament  of  the 
order  of  Servites  ;  and  the  name  thus  bestowed  on  the 
little  company  was  ever  afterwards  retained  by  them.  It 
was  the  time  when  the  Church  was  suffering  grievously 
from  the  disorders  of  the  Manichean  heretics,  and  when 
S.  Peter  Martyr  so  nobly  upheld  the  standard  of  the 
faith  in  the  northern  provinces  of  Italy.  He  filled  the 
ofnce  of  Inquisitor  of  the  faith  under  the  Pontiffs  Gre- 
gory IX.  and  Innocent  IV.,  and  on  the  accession  of  the 
latter  to  the  Holy  See,  the  task  of  examining  the  cha- 
racter of  the  new  society,  whose  members  had  rapidly 
increased,  was  laid  on  S.  Peter.  His  inquiries  resulted 
in  a  warm  approval  of  their  spirit  and  manner  of  life; 
and   his   cordial   recommendation   of   them    was   quickly 


THE   ORDER   OP   SERVITES.  259 

followed  by  the  formal  confirmation  of  their  order  by 
the  new  Pontiff.  No  doubt  the  tender  and  special 
devotion  ever  borne  by  the  great  martyr  of  the  Friars 
Preachers  to  the  Mother  of  God,  was  one  chief  secret  of 
the  earnest  support  he  gave  to  her  servants,  who  from 
the  first  commencement  of  their  association  had  made 
the  dolours  of  Mary  the  peculiar  object  of  their  re- 
verence ;  so  that  they  may  be  considered  the  great  pro- 
pagators of  that  most  touching  devotion.  Some  writers 
even  go  as  far  as  to  assert  that  the  first  idea  of  erecting 
the  pious  association  into  an  order  originated  with  S.  Peter, 
and  though  this  wants  confirmation,  yet  it  is  probably  true 
that  the  plan  of  withdrawing  them  from  their  exclusively 
contemplative  and  solitary  life,  and  employing  them  in 
active  labour  for  the  salvation  of  souls,  was  of  his 
suggestion.  Touron  speaks  only  of  his  diligent  and  ex- 
act examination  of  their  rule,  and  recommendation  of  it 
for  confirmation  to  the  Holy  See,  but  in  the  original 
chronicles  of  the  order  of  Servites  the  story  is  given  with 
the  addition  of  some  of  those  circumstances  of  supernatural 
interest,  which  the  French  historian  so  universally  rejects 
from  his  narrative,  but  which  form  the  peculiar  charm  of  the 
old  writers. 

According  to  F.  Michael,  the  Servite  chronicler,  it 
would  seem  that  the  interest  felt  by  S.  Peter  in  the 
hermits  of  Monte  Senario  was  the  result  of  a  divine 
revelation.  Many  a  time  did  he,  being  in  ecstacy,  behold 
before  the  eyes  of  his  soul  a  mountain  surrounded  by 
most  clear  light,  adorned  with  every  kind  of  flower, 
among  which  seven  lilies  of  dazzling  whiteness  far  sur- 
passed the  rest  in  beauty  and  delicious  perfume;  and 
his  wonder  and  admiration  increased  when  he  beheld 
them  gathered  by  the  angels,  and  presented  to  the 
Mother  of  God ;  and  accepted  by  her  with  a  joyful 
and  gracious  countenance.  He  often  pondered  over  this 
vision,  but  never  understood  its  meaning  till  he  came  to 
the  holy  mountain  of  Senario  :  there  the  life  of  the 
solitaries,  who  had  left  the  world  to  dedicate  themselves 
to  God  and  our  Lady,  and  to  cherish  a  loving  com- 
memoration of  Her  sorrows,  seemed  to  explain  the 
s  2 


260  THE   DOMINICAN    ORDER. 

mystery,  and  he  was  enlightened  to  discern  the  graea 
which  dwelt  in  these  men,  and  specially  of  their  seven 
founders  ;  whose  cause  and  order  he  thenceforward 
generously  protected  and  advanced.  Nor  were  tho 
Servites  backward  to  express  their  gratitude.  S.  Peter 
Martyr  has  always  been  honoured  amongst  them  as  their 
second  founder,  and  after  his  glorious  martyrdom  and 
subsequent  canonization,  he  was  enrolled  among  their 
chief  protectors  and  patron  saints.  In  the  notice  of  his 
martyrdom  inserted  in  their  chronicles,  he  is  called  by 
the  common  appellation  of  "familiar  of  our  order."* 

We  might  mention  other  orders  which  felt  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Friars  Preachers,  especially  the  Carmelites. 
Their  rule  appearing  to  many  excessive  in  its  austerity, 
the  religious  applied  to  Pope  Innocent  IV.  for  some  expla- 
nation of  its  obscurities ;  and  Hugo  a  Sancto  Charo,  the 
cardinal  of  Santa  Sabina,  was  the  person  selected  for  the 
task.  Three  centuries  later,  when  the  Dominicans  had  again 
so  great  a  share  in  the  reform  of  the  same  order,  S.  The- 
resa refers  to  this  their  first  connection,  in  the  following 
words:  "We  observe,"  she  says,  "the  rule  of  our  Lady 
of  Mount  Carmel,  without  any  mitigation,  as  it  was 
ordained  by  Father  Hugo,  cardinal  of  Santa  Sabina,  and 
confirmed  by  Pope  Innocent  IV."  This  revision  of  the 
Carmelite  rule  took  place  during  the  generalship  of  S. 
Simon  Stock.  * 

To  these  orders  we  may  add  the  Congregation  of  the 
Barnabites  of  S.  Paul,  whose  rule  was  committed  to  the 
revision  and  examination  of  Leonard  de  Marini,  Papal 
Nuncio  at  the  council  of  Trent,  by  Pius  IV.  before 
granting  it  his  confirmation  ;  the  Order  of  Grandmont, 
whose  rule  was  revised  by  Bernard  Geraldi,  appointed 
visitor  to  the  order  by  Honorius  IV.  in  1282  ;  and 
several  Benedictine  reforms,  in  which  the  eminent  men  of 
the  Order  of  Preachers  had  a  prominent  share.  It  is 
time,  however,  for  us  to  bring  this  chapter  to  a  close,  that 
we  may  enter  on  the  general  history  of  the  order  during 
the  second  century  of  its  foundation. 

-::-  See  Touron.  Yie  de  S.  Dominique,  liv.  5.  and  Chron.  Ord.  Serv. 
p.  11— 15. 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  14th  century.  Pestilence  of  1348.  The  great  schism.  8. 
Catherine  of  Siena.  Reform  of  the  Order.  S.  Yincent  Ferrer. 
Greatness  of  the  Order  during  this  period.  Its  foreign  missions. 
Its  prelates.  S.  Antoninus.  Council  of  Basle.  Zeal  of  the 
Order  in  defence  of  the  Holy  See.  Council  of  Florence.  John 
Torquemada. 

Whilst  glancing,  in  the  last  chapter,  over  some  of  the 
great  men  and  distinguished  writers  of  the  Dominican  order, 
we  have  for  a  time  abandoned  the  course  of  its  history.  The 
contest  with  the  universities  was  not  the  only  one  in  which 
it  had  to  bear  a  leading  part ;  and  the  second  great  struggle 
in  which  it  was  engaged  brings  us  to  consider  what  we  may 
call  its  influence  on  the  politics  of  the  Church.  If  the  thir- 
teenth century  was  busy  with  the  disputes  of  the  schools, 
the  fourteenth  was  torn  by  distractions  of  a  far  more 
grievous  kind :  it  may  be  termed  the  century  of  schism. 
The  two  great  factions  of  Gruelf  and  Ghibelline,  Italian  in 
their  origin,  extended  in  their  spirit  and  effect  throughout 
the  whole  Church;  and  in  every  country  of  Europe  eccle- 
siastical privileges  had  to  sustain  a  fierce  attack  from  the 
encroachments  of  the  civil  power.  The  most  important 
of  these  contests  was,  of  course,  that  to  which  the  names 
of  the  two  factions  is  more  particularly  applied — namely, 
that  between  the  emperors  and  the  Popes.  In  the  long 
and  complicated  history  of  that  quarrel  we  find  the  Order 
of  Friars  Preachers  offering  to  the  chair  of  S.  Peter  a 
defence,  the  loyalty  and  devotion  of  which  is  not  to,  be 
surpassed  even  by  that  of  the  illustrious  society  which 
has  made  allegiance  to  the  Popes  an  obligation  to  which 
its  members  are  bound  by  vow.  The  emperors  and  the 
antipopcs  seem  to  have  had  a  sort  of  instinctive  horror 
of  the  Friars  Preachers,  as  of  their  natural  enemies ; 
and  we  accordingly  find  Louis  of  Bavaria,  and  his  nominee 
to  the  schismatic  tiara,  Nicholas  V.,  driving  the   order 


262  THE    DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

out  of  every  convent  in  Germany,  and  such  cities  of  the 
north  of  Italy  as  acknowledged  their  obedience.  For 
three  years  the  order  suffered  the  most  violent  persecution 
for  its  adherence  to  the  rightful  Pontiff,  John  XXII., 
which  was  only  terminated  by  the  death  of  the  emperor 
and  the  consequent  fall  of  the  antipope.  In  '^348,  a  new 
calamity  fell  on  the  Church  in  the  terrible  plague  which 
ravaged  Europe  and  desolated  whole  provinces,  so  that, 
we  are  told,  many  districts  remained  wholly  without 
inhabitants,  the  domestic  animals  became  fierce  and  wild, 
and  cultivated  regions  fell  back  again  into  vast  untenanted 
deserts.  The  great  novelist  who  has  given  us  a  sketch  of 
some  of  the  terrors  of  that  dreadful  time,  has  left  us 
likewise  an  idea  of  its  frightful  demoralization.  Men 
grew  familiar  with  death  till  they  ceased  to  fear  it,  and 
there  appeared  among  them  that  strange  form  of  sen- 
suality which  would  make  the  most  of  the  brief  hour  which 
separates  it  from  the  grave,  and  even  links  its  licentiousness 
with  the  idea  of  the  pestilence  which  it  defies — a  sensuality 
which  has  been  exhibited  in  our  own  day,  and  in  our  own 
day  also  has  found  a  novelist  worthy  to  be  the  chronicler 
of  its  abominations. 

The  very  year  when  this  pestilence  broke  out  was  that 
which  gave  to  the  world  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments 
of  the  Dominican  order.  We  can  scarcely  picture  to 
ourselves  the  state  of  the  world  during  those  thirty-three 
years  that  S.  Catherine  of  Siena  was  its  glorious  apostle. 
It  was  a  period  of  universal  decay;  and  the  religious 
orders  felt  the  effects  of  the  universal  declension  equally 
with  the  rest  of  the  Church.  The  Friars  preachers,  who 
had  nobly  exposed  themselves  to  the  relief  of  the  plague- 
stricken,  died  by  thousands ;  and  those  who  were  the 
worthiest  in  their  ranks  were  the  surest  to  be  taken, 
falling  victims  to  their  noble  charity  to  the  sick  and  dying. 
Nor  was  the  reduction  of  their  numbers  the  only  or  the 
worst  evil  resulting  from  the  scourge.  A  time  of  pesti- 
lence is  never  a  time  of  strict  observance,  and  when  the 
scanty  remnant  that  survived  the  epidemic  beheld  their 
order  reduced  to  a  tenth  of  its  former  numbers, — some 
conven  s  left  wholly  without  inhabitants, — others   with 


S.    CATHERINE   OF   SIENA.  263 

communities  of  twos  and  threes,  where  formerly  they  had 
been  reckoned  by  hundreds,  they  yielded  to  a  fatal  human 
prudence  ;  and  by  the  way  of  filling  up  the  empty  ranks 
admitted  all  kinds  of  subjects  under  all  kinds  of  dispensa- 
tions, relaxing  the  rule,  even  allowing  community  life  to  be 
relinquished  in  many  places  for  the  sake  of  securing  to  the 
order  the  adherence  of  those  who  were  in  reality  unfit 
for  its  duties  or  its  austerities. 

A  grievous  and  universal  relaxation  was  the  inevitable 
consequence  of  this  unhappy  policy  ;  and  when,  in  1378, 
the  great  schism  of  the  West  broke  out,  and  Europe, 
already  suffering  from  the  demoralizing  influence  of  long- 
continued  pestilence  and  famine,  was  again  distracted  by 
a  divided  spiritual  allegiance,  the  miserable  state  of  all 
classes  of  society  became  such  as  it  is  difficult  to  believe, 
and  impossible  to  describe.  This  was  the  period  during 
which  S.  Catherine  lived  and  wrote ;  and  it  is  just  that 
we  should  have  some  knowledge  of  the  causes  and  extent 
of  that  fearful  corruption  which  she  was  raised  up  by 
God  to  denounce  and  to  reform,  if  we  desire  to  have 
any  idea  of  her  true  historical  character.  It  was  doubt- 
less one  wholly  extraordinary,  but  so  were  the  times  ; 
and  we  need  to  be  in  some  degree  aware  of  their  deep 
degradation  to  understand  those  bold  and  severe  denun- 
ciations of  vice  in  every  form,  in  every  class,  which 
are  to  be  found  in  her  inspired  writings.  At  once  the 
chief  support  of  the  Papacy  and  the  apostle  of  the  age, 
S.  Catherine  has  other  claims  which  have  perpetuated 
her  name  to  the  veneration  of  the  faithful,  far  beyond  her 
own  day.  As  a  mystic  writer,  she  holds  a  rank  in  the 
Church,  which  we  cannot  well  place  too  high  ;  and  the 
term  "inspired,"  which  we  have  just  ventured  to  apply 
to  her  writings,  will  scarcely  seem  exaggerated  to  those 
who  are  familiar  with  their  profound  and  most  heavenly 
teaching.  As  a  saint,  she  is  perhaps  the  most  perfect 
type  of  the  Dominican  ideal  ever  given  to  the  world. 
Her  mind,  her  life,  and  her  writings,  are  all  steeped  in 
the  essential  spirit  of  the  order.  Large  and  free,  full  of 
enthusiasm,  and  full  of  good  sense ;  chivalrous  in  every 
impulse  and  purpose,  devoted  with  unswerving  loyalty  to 


264  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

the  Holy  See,  and  full  of  divine  and  infused  science,  we 
see  in  Catherine  an  epitome  of  the  Dominican  character. 
Nor  can  we  anywhere  seek  for  a  more  perfect  example 
of  that  which  is  the  primary  idea  of  the  institute,  namely, 
the  union  of  the  active  and  contemplative  states,  than  is 
to  be  found  in  the  life  of  one  who  soared  to  the  very 
heights  of  divine  contemplation,  not  in  the  solitude  of 
conventual  enclosure,  but  amid  the  jarring  vexation  of 
ordinary  domestic  duties,  or  the  distractions  of  what  we 
might  almost  call  a  public  and  political  career.  In  her 
are  combined  the  seemingly  opposite  characteristics  of 
other  saints  j — the  wisdom  and  theology  of  the  doctors  of 
the  Church,  with  the  simplicity  of  him  whose  title,  as 
well  as  whose  supernatural  and  mysterious  privilege  of 
suffering  she  shared,  namely,  the  seraphic*  saint  of 
Assisi. 

The  great  schism  lasted  70  years;  and  we  must  not  be 
surprised  if  during  the  perplexities  of  that  unhappy 
period  we  find  good  men  coming  to  a  different  decision 
on  the  claims  of  the  rival  candidates.  It  is  easy  for  us 
in  our  day  to  go  over  the  problem  as  it  has  been  worked 
and  solved  by  others,  and  to  come  to  the  ready  conclusion 
that  Urban  was  Pope,  and  Benedict  and  Clement  were 
antipopes ;  just  as  it  is  easy  for  us  to  see  the  landmarks 
about  us  when  we  have  emerged  from  a  fog,  and  have  made 
our  way  to  a  higher  ground,  whilst  it  is  still  thick 
darkness  to  those  whose  eyes  are  blinded  with  the  mist. 
Doubtless  its  difficulties  must  have  been  very  great ; 
and  sorrowful  as  is  the  fact,  we  must  not  be  hasty  in 
our  judgment  of  it  when  we  find  the  already  enfeebled 
order  in  part  sharing  in  the  schism,  and  the  provinces  of 
France,  Castile,  Arragon  and  Scotland,  with  their  general, 
Elias   Raymund,  under  the    obedience   of  the   antipopes, 


*  The  title  of  "  Seraj)7ricJ)  given  in  common  parlance  to  the 
whole  Franciscan  Order  is  not,  so  far  as  we  are  aware,  bestowed  on 
any  individual  saint  except  S.  Bonaventure,  the  Seraphic  doctor,  8. 
Catherine,  and  8.  Francis  ;  the  two  latter  having  also  this  peculiar 
privilege,  that  the  Church  has  recognised  and  honoured  their 
reception  of  the  stigma  by  appointing  festivals  for  their  commemo- 
ration ;  a  distinction  which,  we  believe,  is  exclusively  their  own. 


THE   GREAT   SCHISM.  265 

whilst  the  rest  of  the  order  adhered  firmly  to  the  cause  of 
Urban  and  his  successors.  But  in  the  history  of  orders, 
as  in  that  of  the  Church  itself,  the  period  of  relaxation  is 
followed  by  that  of  reform.  The  relaxation  must  indeed 
have  been  great,  if  we  may  trust  the  words  of  Michel 
Pio,  who,  writing  in  the  seventeenth  century,  acknow- 
ledges that  its  effects  were  still  felt  even  in  his  day.  The 
reform,  however,  which  was  chiefly  worked  out  under 
Raymund  of  Capua  and  Bartholomew  Texier,  grievous 
as  were  the  evils  in  which  it  originated,  exhibited  in  a 
remarkable  manner  the  vitality  of  the  Dominican  rule, 
which  even  in  decay  has  ever  possessed  within  itself 
the  power  of  regeneration.  There  were  no  new  ordi- 
nances or  rules  drawn  up  ;  and  when  we  use  the  word 
"  reform,"  our  readers  must  understand  the  expression 
in  a  totally  different  sense  to  that  which  it  would  have  in 
speaking,  for  instance,  of  the  Capuchins  or  Cistercians, 
who  when  they  returned  to  their  original  rule,  broke  off 
at  the  same  time  from  the  unity  of  the  parent  stem.  But 
this  has  never  been  the  case  with  the  Dominicans :  their 
unity  of  government  has  remained  absolutely  unbroken, 
and  their  reforms  have  consisted  only  in  a  return  to  the 
observance  of  that  rule  to  the  fulness  of  whose  provisions 
nothing  could  be  added.  This  return  to  strict  observance 
was  not  indeed  universal ;  and  hence  we  sometimes  find  the 
terms  conventual  and  observant  used,  as  among  the  Francis- 
cans, to  distinguish  the  stricter  from  the  more  relaxed  com- 
munities ;  but  nevertheless,  the  government  of  the  order 
has  never  once  been  divided,  save  in  the  case  of  the  great 
schism  of  which  we  have  spoken  above. 

Dur:ng  this  reform  begun  by  Raymund  of  Capua,  the 
order  produced  a  harvest  of  great  and  saintly  men,  worthy 
of  its  best  days  and  primitive  fervour.  Marcolino  of 
Forli,  and  John  Dominic  of  Florence,  both  of  whom  the 
Church  has  ranked  among  her  beatified  heroes,  might 
have  been  novices  of  Dominic  or  of  Reginald;  and  they 
shed  a  sweet  odour  of  sanctity  over  a  troubled  time.  To 
the  latter,  indeed,  who  sat  in  the  Council  of  Constance  as 
Cardinal  Legate  to  Pope  Gregory  XII.,  the  final  extinction 
of  the  schism  must  be  in  a  great  measure  attributed.      It 


266  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

was  he  who  advised,  and  at  length  succeeded  in  effecting, 
the  resignation  of  all  the  contending  claimants  ;  a  step 
which  was  immediately  followed  by  the  election  of  Martin 
V.,  and  the  restoration  of  peace  to  the  Church. 

It  is  impossible  to  pass  over  the  period  of  the  great 
schism  without  noticing  the  extraordinary  man  whose 
apostolic  labours  shed  a  light  upon  the  troubled  times, 
while  he  took  an  active  share  in  the  great  question  which 
then  agitated  the  Church.  We  allude  to  S.  Vincent 
Ferrer,  the  Thaumaturgus  of  his  order,  and  one  of  its 
most  distinguished  ornaments,  who  previously  to  the 
decision  of  the  Council  of  Constance,  took  in  common 
with  his  countrymen,  the  side  of  Peter  de  Luna  (Bene- 
dict XIII.)  in  the  long  controversy.  But  his  support  of 
the  Cardinal  de  Luna's  claims  had  nothing  in  it  of  parti- 
sanship :  his  constant  endeavours  were  directed  to  per- 
suade him  to  resign  his  pretensions  as  the  only  means  of 
restoring  peace  and  unity  to  the  Church  ;  he  lived  on 
terms  of  the  closest  intimacy  with  John  Dominic  and  the 
other  adherents  of  Pope  Gregory,  and  his  conduct  on  the 
final  decision  of  the  question  by  the  election  of  Martin 
V.  exhibits  one  of  the  most  admirable  examples  of  sub- 
mission to  the  authority  of  the  Church  which  stands 
recorded.  United  by  personal  intimacy  and  ties  of 
private  interest  to  Peter  de  Luna,  he  never  hesitated  as 
to  the  course  to  be  pursued  when  the  doubt  which  had 
distracted  the  Church  so  long  was  at  length  removed. 
From  the  moment  the  decree  of  the  Council  was  pub- 
lished, he  withdrew  all  obedience  to  the  authority  of  him 
whom  till  then  he  had  regarded  as  the  rightful  Pontiff ; 
and  the  rest  of  his  life  was  spent  in  unwearied  exertions 
to  procure  the  entire  extirpation  of  the  schism,  and  to 
bring  the  kingdom  of  France  and  Aragon  to  acknow- 
ledge the  authority  of   Pope  Martin.*       Of  S.  Vincent's 

•  Lest  the  fact  of  S.  Vincent  having  at,  one  time  espoused  the 
cause  of  an  antipope  should  perplex  any  of  our  readers,  and  induce 
them  to  imagine  him  involved  in  the  charge  of  schism,  we  will 
quote  the  words  of  Gerson,  who  himself  lived  in  those  times,  and 
who  writes  as  follows;  "In  the  present  schism  which  is  of  so 
doubtful  a  character,  it  would  be  a  most  bold,  injurious,  and 
scandalous  assertion,  to  say  that  those  who  embraced  either  one 


S.   VINCENT   FERRER.  267 

career  as  an  apostle  it  is  difficult  to  speak :  not  to  men- 
tion his  miracles,  which  are  of  a  character  and  authority 
which  justify  us  in  ranking  him  amongst  the  most  extra- 
ordinary of  all  the  saints,  his  life  was  a  miracle  in  itself. 
He  was  the  apostle  not  of  one  province  or  country,  but  of 
the  world:  in  almost  every  town  and  village  of  Spain, 
France,  Italy,  and  we  have  a  pride  in  adding,  of  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland,  he  preached  with  a  success  that 
has  no  parallel  in  history.  In  Spain  alone  he  is  known 
to  have  converted  more  than  8,000  Moors  and  above 
35,000  Jews;  whilst  if  we  take  the  accounts  of  the 
Jewish  rabbins  instead  of  Christian  authors,  we  may 
increase  this  last  number  to  that  of  200,000  of  their 
nation  whom  they  affirm  to  have  been  moved  to  receive 
baptism  and  embrace  the  Christian  faith  by  the  preaching 
of  S.  Vincent.  Gerson  did  not  hesitate  to  apply  to  him 
the  prophecy  in  the  Apocalypse  of  "  one  mounted  on  a 
white  horse  to  whom  was  given  a  crown,  and  who  went 
forth  conquering,  and  to  conquer."  Others  understood 
the  prophecy  given  by  the  same  Evangelist,  of  the  winged 
angel  who  was  to  preach  the  everlasting  gospel  through 
the  heavens,  as  referring  to  him ;  and  hence  in  Christian 
art  he  is  commonly  represented  with  wings.  In  fact, 
the  boundless  influence  he  possessed  over  men's  minds 
in  his  own  day  cannot  be  overrated;  yet  he  is  of  the 
number  of  those  who  have  left  little  behind  him  for 
posterity.  His  sermons,  a  few  letters,  and  a  golden 
treatise  on  the  spiritual  life,  are  all  the  authentic  writings 
which  remain  of  this  wonderful  man,  whose  greatness 
was  essentially  of  that  personal  description  to  which  we 

side  or  the  other,  or  who  remain  neutral,  incur  any  censure  or 
suspicion  of  the  guilt  of  schism;  for  there  never  has  been  a  schism 
in  which  there  is  more  room  for  doubt  than  in  this;  the  opinions  of 
the  greatest  doctors  and  most  holy  men  on  both  sides  being  so 
opposed."  S.  Vincent  is  not  the  only  saint  we  find  taking  a  part 
now  universally  judged  to  be  erroneons.  Blessed  Peter  of  Luxem- 
burg, beatified  by  Clement  VII.,  was  an  adherent  of  another 
Clement,  one  of  Peter  de  Luna's  predecessors.  We  may  add  the 
fact  that  John  de  Puinox,  general  of  that  portion  of  the  order  which 
recognized  Benedict  XIII. ,  afterwards  became  confessor  to  Martin 
V.,  and,  like  S.  Vincent,  used  all  his  influence  with  Benedict  to 
induce  him  to  resign. 


268  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

alluded   as   the   one   most   commonly   to   be  found    in   a 
preaching  and  apostolic  order. 

We  will  not  dwell  further  on  the  period  of  the  schism, 
which,  even  in  the  midst  of  the  most  painful  and  humili- 
ating circumstances  attendant  on  a  time  of  religious 
declension,  furnishes  us  nevertheless  with  one  remarkable 
feature  in  the  character  of  the  Dominican  order — we 
mean  its  extraordinary  vitality.  It  cannot  be  crushed, 
and  it  will  not  decay ;  even  when  seemingly  most  dead  it 
raises  itself  to  new  life,  not,  like  other  orders,  demanding 
new  constitutions  or  new  founders,  but  ever  the  same, 
with  its  rule,  its  government,  nay,  its  very  habit  un- 
changed since  the  days  of  its  first  foundation.  We  have 
spoken  of  the  influence  of  the  order  on  the  politics  of  the 
Church,  and  specially  of  its  devotion  to  the  Holy  See  in 
opposition  to  the  attacks  of  the  Ghibeline  emperors;  but 
this  devotion  was  equally  displayed  through  all  the 
struggles  which  the  Pontifical  power  had  to  maintain 
during  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  Conrad  of 
Brescia,  the  reformer  of  the  convent  of  Bologna,  was 
among  those  most  remarkable  for  his  noble  and  disinter- 
ested efforts  in  defence  of  the  Papal  authority,  at  the  time 
when  the  Bolognese  were  in  open  rebellion  against  the 
government  of  the  Holy  See.  He  was  at  the  mercy  of 
the  insurgents,  shut  up  in  their  city,  and  wholly  dependent 
on  their  favour  and  support ;  the  city  was  laid  under  an 
interdict,  but  none  dared  to  publish  it,  until  Conrad, 
laying  aside  every  thought  save  that  of  loyalty  to  the 
chair  of  Peter,  boldly  proclaimed  it  in  the  great  piazza 
of  the  city,  and  was  instantly  seized  and  cast  into  prison, 
where  he  was  left  without  food  for  many  days.  Released, 
and  imprisoned  a  second  time,  he  was  at  length  condemned 
by  the  popular  party  to  be  starved  to  death;  and  the 
sentence  would  undoubtedly  have  been  executed  but  for 
the  open  and  manifest  protection  of  heaven ;  for  his 
enemies  were  forced  to  acknowledge,  after  a  lengthened 
trial,  that  man  "  lives  not  by  bread  alone,"  and  that  the 
saints  of  God  have  meat  that  the  world  knows  not  of. 
"  In  fact,"  says  Leander  Albert,  "  the  prison  of  Conrad 
was  a  Paradise,  rather  than  a  place  of  torment,  by  reason 


JONRAD   OF   BRESCIA.  269 

of  the  heavenly  consolations  with  which  he  was  favoured." 
So  finding  that  starvation  had  no  power  over  one  who  lived 
on  prayer,  they  again  released  him;  but  when  the  news 
of  his  liberty  was  brought  to  him  he  only  sighed :  "I 
had  thought,"  he  said,  "that  the  wedding-feast  was  at 
hand,  and  that  you  had  come  to  call  me  to  the  nuptials ; 
but  God's  will  be  done;  I  am  not  worthy  to  die  for 
Christ."  Martin  V.,  who  constantly  looked  on  him  as  a 
martyr  in  will,  and  who  attributed  the  peace  which  was 
soon  afterwards  concluded  between  the  Holy  See  and 
its  Bolognese  subjects,  to  the  heroic  sacrifices  of  this 
admirable  religious,  offered  him  the  purple ;  but  he  reso- 
lutely refused  every  dignity  and  begged  as  the  only  reward 
of  his  services,  to  be  suffered  to  spend  his  life  in  labour 
for  his  order  and  the  Church.  He  died,  as  became 
him,  in  the  service  of  the  plague-stricken,  at  the  age 
of  31,  and  though  never  solemnly  beatified,  no  writer 
speaks'  of  him  in  other  terms  than  as  "the  blessed 
Conrad." 

This  loyalty  to  the  See  of  Rome  we  shall  always  find 
exposing  the  Friars  Preachers  to  persecution  from  the 
enemies° of  the  Church.  That  it  was,  as  we  have  said, 
their  peculiar  characteristic  cannot  be  doubted,  when  we 
find  such  bodies,  for  instance,  as  the  schismatical  Council 
of  Basle  making  an  invasion  of  the  privileges  granted  to 
the  Dominicans,  one  of  its  first  measures,  and  at  the  very 
same  time  when,  as  we  shall  see,  it  was  directing  its  pre- 
sumptuous attacks  against  Eugenius  IV.  If,  too,  we 
examine  the  tendency  and  character  of  the  writers  who 
have  attacked  or  depreciated  the  order,  as  Matthew  Paris 
and  others,  we  shall  invariably  find  them  to  be  Ghibeline  in 
their  principles. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  periods  of  decay  and  of  reform: 
another  must  now  be  alluded  to,  and  it  is  the  period  of 
revival.  The  labours  of  Raymund  and  of  Texier  were 
crowned  with  an  abundant  success:  and  if  we  desire 
proof  of  the  extent  to  which  the  new  impulse  was  felt 
throughout  the  order,  we  may  find  it  in  the  fear  which 
was  expressed  by  its  superiors,  lest  it  should  suffer  from 
its  very  greatness,  and   from  the  dangers  which   seemed 


270  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

to  threaten  it  from  the  vast  numbers  now  raised  to  eccle- 
siastical dignities  from  its  ranks.  Every  province  was 
then  rich  with  men  of  learning  and  sanctity ;  the  world 
had  thought,  the  order  dying  and  degraded,  and  were 
astonished  to  see  reappearing  on  all  sides  religious  men 
zealous  for  primitive  discipline  and  full  of  the  heroism  of 
their  institute.  The  apostolic  spirit  revived,  and  fresh 
missions  were  sent  out  to  labour  among  the  northern 
regions  of  Russia,  and  the  schismatical  provinces  of  the 
East.  Not  that  the  missionary  labours  of  the  order  had 
ever  been  wholly  interrupted,  even  when  the  deplorable 
schism  of  the  Church  had  checked  and  in  great  measure 
hindered  their  success.  It  was  in  the  very  midst  of  that 
disastrous  time  that  blessed  Alvarez  of  Cordova  was  pur- 
suing his  most  painful  and  untiring  labours  in  the  Holy 
Land ;  and  the  preaching  of  the  Dominicans  in  the 
eastern  empire,  now  rapidly  falling  before  the  victorious 
arms  of  the  Turks,  was  not  without  success  even  among 
the  Mussulman  conquerors  themselves.  The  eastern 
missions,  as  well  those  of  the  Franciscans  and  Dominicans, 
as  of  other  religious  bodies,  seemed  to  have  received  a 
fatal  blow  on  the  fall  of  Constantinople  in  1453,  and  the 
consequent  triumph  of  the  Turkish  arms  in  every  part  of 
the  East.  Great,  however,  as  were  the  obstacles  thence- 
forward opposed  to  the  success  of  the  Christian  mission- 
aries, they  were  far  from  abandoning  the  apostolic  work ; 
and  Providence  raised  up  a  series  of  pontiffs  with 
the  continued  support  and  encouragement  of  the  Holy 
See. 

Since  the  time  of  S.  Hyacinth  there  had  existed  in  the 
order  a  congregation  for  the  extension  of  the  faith,  called 
"  the  Congregation  of  the  Pilgrims  of  Jesus  Christ." 
This  ancient  association  was  suppressed  in  1462  by  F. 
Martial  Auribelli,  master-general  of  the  order,  but  was 
restored  under  the  government  of  his  successor,  Conrad 
of  Asti,  and  greatly  encouraged  by  Pius  II.  We  may 
judge  of  the  amount  of  the  missionary  work  at  this  time 
undertaken  by  the  order,  by  the  account  given  us  of  the 
countries  and  convents  over  which  this  congregation 
alone  presided.       Besides  many  convents  belonging  to   it 


ITS   NUMEROUS   MISSIONS.  271 

in  the  East,  we  find  others  in  Hungary,  Poland,  Lithu- 
ania, Podolia,  Russia,  Moldavia,  and  Wallachia.  The 
superior  of  this  congregation  was  F.  Benedict  Filicaja, 
"  a  man,"  says  Fontena,  "  who  desired  nothing  better 
than  to  die  for  Christ  and  the  gospel."  The  fruits  of  its 
re- establishment  were  very  great,  In  Russia  alone,  then 
a  barbarous  and  in  some  degree  an  idolatrous  country, 
we  read  of  one  Dominican  of  Erfurth  converting  5,000 
persons  to  the  Christian  faith  ;  and  the  success  of  others 
was  much  in  the  same  proportion.  We  cannot,  however, 
undertake  to  give  even  the  briefest  sketch  of  the  Domin- 
ican missions  ;  for  it  is  a  subject  which  would  demand  as 
many  volumes  as  we  have  pages  to  devote  to  it.  It  is 
much  to  be  hoped  that  some  day  the  vast  treasures  of 
information  which  lie  hidden  in  the  original  and  unpub- 
lished documents  preserved  in  the  order,  may  in  some 
shape  or  other  be  given  to  the  public.  The  more  than 
indifference  which  the  order  of  Friars  Preachers  has  con- 
tinually exhibited  to  make  its  prodigious  labours  manifest 
to  the  world,  is  not  one  of  its  least  remarkable  character- 
istics ;*  but  much  as  we  may  admire   the  carelessness  of 

*  We  are  surely  justified  in  pointing  to  this  singular  modesty  of 
the  Friars  Preachers  as  a  characteristic  of  them  as  a  body.  With 
them  it  has  ever  seemed  enough  to  do  their  work,  and  think  no 
more  about  it.  Our  readers  will  remember  their  extraordinary 
indifference  even  to  the  canonization  of  its  holy  founder.  *■  Every 
one,"  they  said,  "  knew  that  he  was  a  saint;  to  what  purpose  enter 
on  a  long  process  to  prove  it?"  Many  of  the  biographies  of  their 
greatest  men  are  lost,  or  so  imperfectly  preserved  as  to  give  no 
idea  of  what  they  actually  performed.  And  not  to  speak  further 
of  the  singular  reserve  they  have  shown  with  regard  1o  many  of 
their  most  wonderful  missionary  undertakings,  of  which  the  world 
knows  nothing,  we  observe  the  same  peculiarity  in  the  conduct  of 
individuals  among  them.  Thomas  Turco,  for  instance,  general  of 
the  order  in  1649,  never  published  any  of  his  own  writings,  whilst 
he  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  leisure  in  superintending  new 
editions  of  those  of  others ;  and  in  Louis  Sousa,  the  Portuguese 
historian  of  the  order,  this  simplicity  and  perfect  absence  of  literary 
vanity  was  very  remarkable.  He  was  chosen  by  Philip  IV.  to  write 
a  history  of  the  life  and  reign  of  John  III.  of  Portugal;  and  having 
completed  the  work,  he  committed  the  manuscript  to  the  hands  of 
the  viceroy  who  was  charged  with  its  publication  ;  but  from  some 
unexplained  cause  the  history  never  was  published,  and  Sousa  lost 
even  his  manuscript,  for  he  had  never  taken  the  ordinary  precaution 
of  preserving  a  second  copy  of  his  work  when  he  gave  up  the  ori- 


272  THE   DOMINICAN    ORDER. 

popular  applause,  we  must  feel  mankind  to  be  losers  by 
the  suppression  of  so  valuable  a  portion  of  the  history  of 
the  Church. 

Imperfectly  as  we  possess  the  details  of  these  apostolic 
labours,  they  are  of  the  deepest  interest ;  and  many 
circumstances  concurred  just  at  this  period  to  give  an  im- 
pulse to  the  Church's  missionary  zeal  in  spite  of  the 
check  which  it  had  received  from  the  victorious  arms  of 
the  Turks. 

New  discoveries  were  every  day  adding  unknown  coun- 
tries to  the  geography  of  the  world.  In  these  discoveries 
the  Portugese  took  the  lead  under  the  enterprising  and 
zealous  encouragements  of  Prince  Henry  of  Portugal ; 
and  wherever  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  navigators 
appeared,  laying  open  new  islands  and  continents  to 
European  commerce,  they  were  quickly  followed  by  the 
indefatigable  missionaries  of  S.  Francis  and  S.  Dominic. 
It  is,  indeed,  very  gratifying  to  find  the  close  union  sub- 
sisting between  the  two  orders  in  their  apostolic  labours,  at 
a  time  when  they  were  often  engaged  on  opposite  sides  in 
controversial  questions,  and  when  differences  in  their  theo- 
logical systems  sometimes  placed  them  in  apparent  rivalry. 
Whatever  their  disputes  as  theologians,  as  apostles  they 
ever  worked  side  by  side  with  most  generous  and  united 
devotion  ;  nor  can  we  discover  a  single  trace  of  that 
jealousy  which  might  easily  have  arisen  from  the  circum- 
stances in  which  they  were  placed.  In  Livonio,  for 
instance,  where  the  Friars  Preachers  were  first  in  the 
field,  we  find  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Teutonic  Order, 
to  whom  the  sovereignty  of  the  country  belonged,  coming 
to  their  assistance  when  the  work  was  beyond  their 
strength,  and  founding  three  convents  of  Franciscans  to 
assist  the  Dominicans  in  their  laborious  struggles  against 
the  infidels  on  the  boundaries  of  Christendom.  So,  in  like 
manner,  we  find  Dominicans  labouring  in  those  holy  places 
in  Palestine  of  which  the  Franciscans  were  the  appointed 
guardians,  and  not  a  vestige  of  any  unwillingness  on  the 


ginil,  so  little  did  he  know  of  ambition  or  ostentation  of  a  men 

author. 


ITS   GREAT   PRELATES.  273 

part  of  the  Friars  Minors  to  admit  them  to  a  share  in  the 
glorious  work. 

Sometimes,  indeed,  as  in  the  accounts  of  the  first  preach- 
ing of  Christianity  to  Congo,  we  find  the  honours  disputed 
by  the  historians  of  the  two  orders :  but  the  rivalry  natural 
to  authors  seems  to  have  been  unknown  to  the  missionaries 
themselves ;  and  the  controversy  does  but  furnish  us  with 
a  proof  that  both  Friars  Preachers  and  Friars  Minors 
were  engaged  in  the  apostolic  work  at  the  same  time,  and 
with  equal  energy  and  success.  In  fact,  to  study  the 
history  of  the  missions  founded  by  one  order,  is  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  achievements  of  the  other ;  for  during 
the  three  first  centuries  of  their  foundations  the  Francis- 
cans and  Dominicans  were,  almost  exclusively,  the  apostles 
of  the  world. 

Reserving  a  more  particular  notice  of  the  missionary 
character  of  the  order  for  a  later  date,  when  we  shall  have 
to  speak  of  the  apostolic  labours  of  the  Friars  Preachers 
in  America  and  in  China,  we  will  return  to  the  general 
history  of  the  Dominican  institute  at  this  period,  which 
may  be  considered  that  of  its  greatest  glory  and  most 
perfect  development.  An  allusion  has  been  made  to  the 
number  of  bishops  and  dignitaries  chosen  from  its  ranks 
during  the  two  centuries  that  followed  the  close  of  the 
great  schism;  and  so  great  was  their  number  and  repu- 
tation, that  we  may  venture  to  point  to  the  character  of 
the  great  Dominican  prelates  as  one  among  the  most 
beneficial  influences  which  the  order  was  destined  to 
shed  upon  the  Church.  At  all  times,  indeed,  the  order 
of  Preachers  has  produced  great  prelates,  for  the  papal 
authority  very  soon  overruled  the  objections  made  by  the 
founders  of  the  two  mendicant  orders  to  the  holding  of 
ecclesiastical  dignities  by  their  followers.  Gregory  IX., 
to  whom,  whilst  yet  cardinal,  that  joint  disapprobation 
had  been  expressed,  was  the  first  to  act  in  opposition  to 
it  by  the  appointment  of  John  the  Teutonic,  afterwards 
master-general  of  the  order  of  Preachers,  to  the  bishopric 
of  Bosnia.  Hugo  di  Sancto  Charo,  one  of  the  earliest 
of  the  Dominican  theologians,  was  the  first  cardinal  of 
the  order,  having  received  the  purple  in  the  year  1244 

T 


274  THE  DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

from  the  hands  of  Innocent  IV.  It  would  be  in  vain 
to  attempt  anything  like  an  enumeration  of  the  great 
bishops  afterwards  given  to  the  Church  by  the  briars 
Preachers ;  we  will  select  one  only  as  an  example  of 
pastoral  excellence ;  and  our  choice  naturally  turns  in 
the  first  place  to  the  great  S.  Antoninus  of  Florence, 
who  may  be  taken  as  the  fairest  model  of  the  Dominican 
episcopate. 

And  we  may  here  remark  'the  very  striking  similarity 
of  character  which  distinguishes  all  the  great  prelates 
of  the  order.  There  is  a  kind  of  family  likeness  among 
them :  the  four  Dominican  popes, — of  whom  one  is  a 
canonized  and  another  a  beatified  saint,* — S.  Antoninus 
of  Florence,  Bartholomew  of  the  Martyrs,  Jerome  La- 
nuza,  and  others  who  crowd  upon  the  memory,  were  all 
alike  in  the  general  outline  of  their  lives.  In  public, 
they  spoke  and  acted  as  great  prelates,  all  being  par- 
ticularly distinguished  by  their  zeal  for  the  preservation 
or  restoration  of  ecclesiastical  discipline ;  but  in  private 
they  were  poor  religious.  They  kept  the  rule  and  wore 
the  habit  of  their  order:  their  revenues  were  lavished 
on  the  poor,  and  their  great  work  was  invariably  one  of 
reform,  and  a  living  protest  against  the  corruptions  of 
the  day.  In  S.  Antoninus  and  Bartholomew  of  the 
Martyrs  this  resemblance  is  rendered  yet  more  striking 
by  the  similarity  to  be  found  in  various  circumstances  of 
their  lives.  The  zeal  and  charity  of  both  were  exhibited 
during  a  time  of  pestilence  and  famine,  their  own  hands 
ministering  to  the  sick  and  dying  when  others  fled  from 
the  sufferers  in  disgust.  The  lives  of  both  were  exposed 
to  the  attacks  of  assassins,  whom  they  converted  by  their 
prayers  ;  and  in  ooth  the  natural  sweetness  and  gentle- 
ness of  their  dispositions  did  not  prevent  them  from 
severely  enforcing  the  ecclesiastical  canons  on  clergy  as 
well  as  laity,  in  pursuance  of  their  vigorous  reforms.  In 
the  laborious  visitations  of  their  dioceses,  which  they 
performed  on  foot  like  humble  religious,  amid  the  snows 
and  cataracts  of  mountainous  districts,  both  were  equally 

S.  Pius  V  and  blessed  Benedict  XI. 


S.    ANTONINUS.  275 

indefatigable ;  and  when  we  remember  that  Antoninus 
was  selected  by  Pius  IL  to  attempt  that  very  reform  of 
the  Cardinalate  which  was  afterwards  so  courageously 
and  successfully  iusisted  on  at  the  Council  of  Trent  by 
Bartholomew,  the  likeness  between  these  two  brothers 
of  the  same  illustrious  family,  separated  as  they  are  by  a 
century  and  a  half  in  point  of  time,  appears  singularly 
complete.  In  fact,  the  Dominican  prelates  were  always 
foremost  in  the  work  of  ecclesiastical  reform  ;  and 
perhaps  their  rigid  advocacy  of  evangelical  poverty  may 
have  partly  arisen  from  a  remembrance  of  the  fact,  that 
the  first  step  of  their  great  founder  in  his  apostolic 
career  was  a  protest  against  the  luxury  of  the  legates  and 
bishops  associated  with  him  in  his  mission  against  the 
Albigenses. 

The  name  of  S.  Antoninus  is  distinguished  not  merely 
for  his  merits  as  a  pastor,  but  also  as  a  doctor  of  the 
Church.  Theological  greatness  is,  as  it  were,  the  heri- 
tage of  the  illustrious  men  of  his  order,  and  S.  Antoninus 
ranks  with  the  very  first  of  its  theologians.  But  had  his 
Summa  of  Moral  Theology  never  been  written,  we  should 
still  cherish  the  memory  of  the  great  archbishop  of 
Florence  as  presenting  us  with  a  perfect  model  of  sanctity 
in  the  episcopate.  "  The  hands  of  the  poor,"  says  Pope 
Pius  II.,  "  were  the  depository  of  all  he  possessed." 
In  fact,  the  revenues  of  his  diocese  were  entirely  expended 
on  their  relief ;  for  himself  he  retained  within  his  archie- 
piscopal  palace  the  same  rule  of  life  which  he  had  observed 
in  the  cloisters  of  Fiesole  or  S.  Mark.  There  was,  to 
use  the  words  of  Touron,  a  "  heroism"  in  his  mode  of 
government  which  produced  astonishing  results.  He 
succeeded  in  bringing  about  a  reformation  of  manners 
in  the  city  of  Florence,  the  mere  attempt  to  effect  which 
would  seem  in  our  day  like  the  schemes  of  a  visionary. 
But  Antoninus  was  armed  with  the  strange  irresistable 
power  of  sanctity.  "  He  rose  with  all  difficulties," 
says  his  biographer,  "  and  not  only  was  his  chapter 
and  clergy  placed  under  the  restored  discipline  of  the 
ecclesiastical  canons,  but  the  people  themselves  felt  the 
influence  of  his   apostolic    and    paternal    rule;    so    that 


276  THE   DOMINICAN    ORDER. 

before  long,  gaming  and  blasphemy  were  unknown  h 
Florence,  usury  and  other  disorders  of  a  social  character 
were  abolished,  private  quarrels  and  dissentions  were  healed, 
and,  to  use  the  words  of  Pope  Pius,  '  all  enmities  were 
banished  out  of  the  city.'  He  was,  in  fact  (if  we  may  so 
say),  canonized  whilst  yet  alive,  in  the  heart  and  judg- 
ment of  the  world.  Pope  Nicholas  V.  ordered  that  no 
appeals  against  any  of  his  sontences  should  be  received  at 
Rome  ;  and  Pius  II.  concludes  the  eloquent  eulogy  of  him 
which  he  has  inserted  in  his  Commentaries  with  the 
remarkable  expression,  that  '  from  the  day  of  his  death, 
he  was  with  reason  regarded  as  an  inhabitant  of  the 
heavenly  city.'  '' 

The  Dominicans,  in  their  character  as  theologians, 
have  naturally  played  a  great  part  in  the  councils  of  the 
Church,  and,  at  the  period  of  which  we  speak,  distin- 
guished themselves  in  a  particular  manner  in  the  delibe- 
rations of  the  Council  of  Basle,  by  their  zeal  against  the 
heresy  of  the  Hussites,  and  by  their  efforts  for  the  reconci- 
liation of  the  Greek  schismatics  at  that  of  Florence. 
The  age  was  in  fact  rife  with  error;  and  in  Bohemia  the 
fanaticism  of  the  followers  of  Huss  and  Zisca  had  pro- 
duced a  bloody  and  disastrous  insurrection.  Those  who 
are  willing  to  believe  that  the  Church  has  known  no  other 
method  of  dealing  with  heretics  than  that  of  fire  and 
sword,  would  do  well  to  study  the  manifesto  of  Father 
John  Nyder,  one  of  the  Papal  Nuncios  despatched  by 
the  Fathers  of  Basle  against  the  Bohemian  insurgents. 
It  is  given  at  length  by  Bzovius,  and  is  remarkable  for 
its  tone  of  sweetness  and  moderation,  and  its  strain  of 
exalted  piety. 

But  our  chief  motive  for  referring  in  this  place  to  the 
Council  of  Basle,  is  for  the  sake  of  the  illustration  which 
its  history  affords  of  that  devotion  on  the  part  of  the 
Dominicans  to  the  interests  of  the  Holy  See,  of  which  we 
have  before  spoken  as  one  of  their  most  striking  cha- 
racteristics. The  unfortunate  conclusion  of  the  council 
is  well  known.  On  the  attempt  of  the  Pontiff  Euge- 
nius  IV.  to  remove  the  assembly  to  Ferrara,  the  prelates 
not  only  opposed  his  resolution  with   their  remonstrances 


THE   COUNCIL   OF   BASLE.  277 

(a  step  which  was  probably  justified  by  the  peculiar 
circumstances  in  which  the  negotiations  with  the  Bohemian 
heretics  had  involved  them),  but,  on  his  persisting  in 
his  design,  they  proceeded  to  open  resistance  of  his 
authority,  and  even  ventured  to  pronounce  his  deposition 
from  the  Papal  chair.  Not  to  enter  on  the  great  theo- 
logical question*  which  engaged  the  pens  of  the  controver- 
sialists assembled  at  Basle,  we  may  be  permitted  to  notice 
the  course  pursued  by  the  Dominican  theologians  during 
this  painful  crisis,  and  their  resolute  defence  of  the  Papal 
authority,  with  sentiments  of  just  admiration.  The 
services  rendered  by  them  to  the  Fathers  of  the  Council 
in  the  whole  course  of  the  proceedings  against  the  Huss- 
ites, and  the  labours  of  Nyder,  Montenigro,  and  above  all, 
of  John  Torquemada,  the  Master  of  the  Sacred  Palace,  had 
been  warmly  acknowledged  by  the  assembled  prelates. 
It  is  evident  that  they  shared  the  views  of  those  who 
looked  on  the  removal  of  the  Council  as  a  dangerous  and 
ill-advised  step;  nevertheless,  the  moment  that  an  attack 
seemed  threatened  against  the  integrity  of  the  Holy  See, 
the  instinctive  loyalty  of  the  order  to  the  Chair  of  S. 
Peter  was  manifested.  No  doubt  the  crisis  was  one  of  no 
common  importance;  the  proceedings  of  the  Council  of 
Constance  were  considered  by  some  to  offer  a  precedent  to 
those  of  Basle,  although  in  fact  the  cases  were  totally 
different.  Nevertheless,  recent  events,  and  the  grievous 
effects  of  a  long  schism,  had  contributed  to  lower  the  idea 
of  the  Papal  supremacy,  and  to  exalt  the  authority  of 
councils.  The  danger  of  this  feeling,  at  the  very  moment 
when  heresy  was  raging  without  the  fold,  was  quickly  ap- 
prehended by  the  watchful  eyes  of  the  Dominican  theolo- 
gians, who  accordingly  withdrew  from  Basle,  and  hastened 
to  join  the  new  council  assembled  under  the  authority  of 
the  supreme  Pontiff  at  Ferrara. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  Torquemada 
published  his  two  treatises  on  the  power  of  the  Popes,  and 
the  authority  of  general  councils  ;  and  at  Florence, 
whither  the  prelates  assembled  at  Ferrara  adjourned  soon 

*  The  Immaculate  Conception;  defined  by  the  fathers  of  Basle, 
and  at  that  time  warmly  disputed,  by  opposite  schools  of  theology. 


278  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

afterwards,  he  distinguished  himself  in  so  remarkable  a 
manner  by  his  defence  of  the  Latin  dogmas,  and  especially 
of  the  Roman  primacy  (which  was  defined  by  the  council 
and  acknowledged  by  the  Greek  bishops)  that  he  received 
from  Eugenius  the  glorious  title  of  "  Defender  of  the 
Faith,"  less  fitly  borne  in  the  following  century  by  the 
English  tyrant  Henry  VIII. 

Torquemada  was,  in  fact,  one  of  the  most  illustrious  men 
of  the  time  ;  and  it  is  not  until  we  fully  appreciate  the  dan- 
gers of  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  that  we  can  justly  esti- 
mate the  services  rendered  to  the  Church  by  him  and 
others  of  his  order,  in  their  firm  resistance  to  the  schismati- 
cal  spirit  then  so  general,  and  their  devotion  of  every 
energy  to  maintain  inviolate  that  supremacy  of  the  See  of 
S.  Peter  which  each  succeeding  age  has  recognized  with 
greater  distinctness  to  be  the  bulwark  of  the  Christian 
faith.  As  Cardinal-legate  and  Papal  ambassador  to 
half  the  courts  of  Europe,  Torquemada  occupied  a  dis- 
tinguished position  in  the  sight  of  the  world  ;  and  yet  so 
little  of  the  worldly  spirit  clung  to  him  in  his  greatness, 
that  we  find  him  retiring  to  his  convent  at  Florence  for 
two  years  "  busying  himself  with  his  own  sanctification 
and  the  practices  of  a  private  religious."  "  His  great 
dignities,"  says  Leander  Albert,  "  in  no  way  interrupted 
his  ordinary  exercises  of  piety  and  penance,  or  diminished 
ought  of  his  religious  modesty.  His  habit  and  ex- 
terior remained  unchanged  ;  what  he  was  among  his 
brethren  he  was  also  among  the  princes  of  the  Church  ; 
humble,  recollected,  penitent  ;  full  of  zeal  for  the  salvation 
of  souls,  of  tenderness  for  the  poor  and  of  love  for  his  order, 
which  he  honoured  yet  more  by  his  virtues  than  by 
the  purple."  * 

We  will  now  pass  to  a  subject  closely  connected  with 
the  period  of  religious  reform ;    carrying  us,   however,  to 


*  Our  readers  must  not  confound  John  Torquemada,  the  "cardinal 
of  S.  Sixtus  of  whom  we  have  spoken  above,  with  his  nephew 
Thomas  Torquemada,  the  celebrated  Spanish  inquisitor,  whose 
severe  measures  in  defence  of  the  Christian  religion,  then  furiously 
attacked  by  the  Jews  and  Saracens,  have  rendered  his  name  so 
terrible  to  English  ears. 


ITS   INFLUENCE   ON   CHRISTIAN   ART.  279 

far  different  thoughts  from  those  suggested  by  the  dis- 
putes of  councils  :  yet  we  can  probably  scarce  find  a 
better  illustration  of  the  largeness  and  diversity  of  the 
Dominican  spirit,  than  by  turning  from  the  great  questions 
of  ecclesiastical  and  political  interest  which  engages  the 
theologians  of  Basle  and  Florence,  and  dwelling  for  a  few 
moments  on  the  gentler, — but  who  shall  say  less  power- 
ful?— influence  of  that  art  which,  like  theology,  was 
to  find  its  "  sublime  dictator"  among  the  ranks  of  the 
Friars  Preachers. 

At  this  period  of  active  contest  and  controversy,  it  is 
pleasant  to  turn  to  the  sunny  hills  and  silent  cloisters  of 
Fiesole,  where  the  glorious  genius  of  one  whom  the  voice  of 
the  world  has  consented  to  beatify,  was  laying  a  sweet  and 
powerful  grasp  upon  the  imagination  and  the  heart  of 
Christendom.  The  order  which  had  already  produced  an 
angelic  doctor  was  now  giving  to  the  world  that  saintly 
artist,  to  whose  name  also  the  title  of  "Angelic"  was  to 
be  perpetually  associated. 


CHAPTER    III. 

w 

Santa  Maria  Novella.  Passavanti.  Connection  of  Art  with  reli- 
gious reform.  B.  John  Dominic.  Foundation  of  the  convent 
of  Fiesole.  Fra  Angelico.  Savonarola  :  his  idea  of  Christian 
art  and  literature.  His  fall.  Fra  Bartolomeo.  Bartholo- 
mew of  the  Martyrs  at  the  court  of  Pius  IV.  Later  artists  of 
the  order. 

The  connection  of  the  Dominican  order  with  Christian 
art  dates  almost  from  its  foundation.  It  was  in  1278  that 
the  first  stone  of  the  church  of  Santa  Maria  Novella  at 
Florence  was  laid  under  singular  and   impressive  circum- 


280  THE  DOMINICAN  ORDER. 

stances.  The  feuds  between  Guelf  and  Ghibelline  were 
then  at  their  height,  and  Fra  Latino  Malabranca,  nephew 
to  Pope  Nicholas  V.,  after  travelling  through  all  the  cities 
of  Roniagna,  preaching  peace  and  reconciliation  to  the 
opposing  factions,  at  length  arrived  at  Florence  to  com- 
mence the  same  work  of  mercy.  He  assisted  at  the 
blessing  of  the  foundation-stone  of  the  new  church,  and 
took  occasion  of  the  multitudes  assembled  to  witness  the 
ceremony,  to  address  them  in  so  powerful  a  strain  of 
eloquence  that  the  disputants  agreed  to  forget  their 
enmities,  and,  flinging  their  arms  round  one  another's 
necks,  embraced  as  brothers.  The  same  scene  was  wit- 
nessed not  long  after  within  the  walls  of  the  newly-erected 
build:  ng  on  the  solemn  publication  of  peace,  which  was 
delivered  by  Latino  from  its  pulpit ;  and  thus  the  very 
foundation  of  this  church,  afterwards  so  celebrated  in  the 
order,  may  be  said  to  have  been  laid  in  mercy.  Its  archi- 
tects and  designers  were  the  two  lay  brothers  Fra  Sisto 
and  Fra  Ristoro  ;  and  the  glorious  temple  raised  under 
their  direction  was  exclusively  built  by  the  hands  of  the 
religious  brethren  themselves,  without  the  assistance  of 
a  single  secular,  "  a  thing,"  says  Marchese,  "  very  rare  in 
the  history  of  art." 

It  is  unnecessary  for  us  to  speak  in  praise  of  a  struc- 
ture whose  criticism  from  the  lips  of  Michael  Angelo 
must  be  familiar  to  all.  He  was  wont  to  call  it  "  his 
gentle  and  beautiful  bride;"  and  his  merits  have  even 
been  celebrated  in  a  treatise  bearing  the  title  "  De  Pul- 
chritudine  Sanctas  Maria  Novellce"  which  we  find  quoted 
in  one  of  Savonarola's  orations.  It  must  ever  pos^s  a 
peculiar  interest  for  the  student  of  Christian  art,  who, 
retracing  the  six  hundred  years  that  have  elapsed  since 
its  first  erection,  will  recall  the  day  when  the  walls  were 
receiving  their  first  frescoes  from  the  hands  of  those 
Greek  artists  who  had  been  invited  to  Florence  by  the 
Republic,  and  found  their  first  and  most  generous  patrons 
among  the  Friars  Preachers.  And  as  in  fancy  he  watches 
them  at  their  work,  he  may  see  stealing  into  the  church 
a  truant  schoolboy,  who  has  escaped  from  his  books  and 
lessons   in    the    grammar-school    opened    by   the    Friars 


SANTA   MARIA  NOVELLA.  281 

immediately  on  their  settlement  in  the  convent,  and  has 
found  his  way  here  to  feast  his  eyes  and  imagination  on 
the  paintings  so  far  superior  in  design  and  coloring  to 
anything  yet  known  in  Florence.  He  is  the  scapegrace 
of  the  school,  and  his  name  is  Cimabue.  The  order  of 
Preachers  cannot  indeed  claim  him  as  a  member,  yet  it 
was  within  the  walls  of  one  of  her  most  glorious  temples 
that  the  future  founder  of  the  Florentine  school  of 
painting  caught  his  first  inspiration,  and  it  was  there,  in 
the  Ruccellai  chapel,  many  years  afterwards,  that  his 
great  chef  d'aruvre,  the  Madonna,  was  carried  in  pro- 
cession, and  deposited  by  the  hands  of  his  enthusiastic 
fellow-citizens.* 

We  should  never  end  were  we  to  attempt  to  chronicle 
all  the  artistic  glories  of  Santa  Maria  Novella,  and  our 
design  in  speaking  of  them  at  all  is  that  they  furnish  one 
out  of  many  illustrations  which  might  be  given,  of  the 
manner  in  which  art  was  used  as  a  means  of  popular 
teaching.  The  fourteenth  century  was  an  age  (to  use 
the  words  of  F.  Marchese)  "prolific  in  artists  and  glorious 
for  Christian  art :  every  one  desired  to  read  on  the  walls 
of  the  temple  the  most  sublime  stories  of  the  Bible,  the 
popular  legends  of  the  saints,  and  the  immortal  strains 
of  Dante.  Religion  was  then  the  fountain-source  of  the 
artist's  inspiration,  and  painting  was  employed  as  a  grand 
means  of  moral  teaching,  worthy  of  a  Christian  people/' 
Indeed,  no  one  can  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  contrast 
exhibited  between   the   whole   system   of  composition   at 


-"-  The  story  told  of  the  completion  of  this  picture  is  illustrative 
enough  of  the  enthusiasm  of  the  age  in  matters  of  art.  Cimabue 
was  employed  in  putting  hi3  last  finishing  touches  to  the  Madonna, 
when  Charles  of  Anjou  passed  through  the  city,  and  notified  his 
intention  of  visiting  the  artist's  studio.  Hitherto  no  one  had  been 
admitted  to  see  the  painting;  but  the  news  of  the  prince's  intended 
visit  getting  wind,  a  vast  multitude  of  the  citizens  followed  in  his 
train,  and  insisted  on  the  doors  being  thrown  open  to  the  public. 
Thi.3  was  done  ;  all  Florence  crowded  to  see  the  great  masterpiece 
of  Cimabue,  and  so  great  was  the  joy  and  admiration  it  excited, 
that  the  quarter  of  the  town  occupied  by  his  house  received  the 
name  of  the  "  Borgo  Allegri;"  and  the  painting  itself  was,  as  we 
have  said,  borne  in  triumphant  procession  to  the  chapel,  where  it 
still  remains. 


282  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

this  period,  and  that  adopted  in  the  modern  schools  of 
painting.  Mere  picturesqueness  of  detail  in  form  and 
colouring  was  not  the  great  object  of  the  painter's  study ; 
the  aim  of  men  like  Memmi,  Orgagna,  or  Taddeo  Gaddi, 
was  to  employ  religious,  or,  we  might  say,  theological 
ideas ;  and  thus  the  pencil  of  the  artist  was  often  guided 
by  the  theologian,  and  was  devoted  to  the  representation 
of  a  part  of  some  complete  system  of  doctrine  or  devotion. 
In  fact,  painting  was  unknown  as  an  art  of  luxury,  or 
apart  from  its  great  mission  of  popular  instruction ;  and 
it  is  remarkable  that  cabinet  pictures,  that  is,  pictures 
merely  intended  to  hang  against  the  walls  of  private 
apartments  as  objects  of  taste,  did  not  exist  until  a  later 
period.  Up  to  the  time  of  which  we  now  speak,  paintings 
were  to  be  found  only  on  the  walls  of  the  church  and 
cloister,  on  the  doors  of  shrines  and  tabernacles,  or  other 
public  places  where  they  might  best  fulfil  their  avowed 
object  as  the  books  of  the  unlearned.  It  was  in  this 
way  that  the  church  of  Santa  Maria  Novella  became, 
under  the  direction  of  successive  generations,  a  very 
museum  of  Christian  art.  Much  was  the  work  of  the 
religious  themselves ;  but  they  contributed  to  the  forma- 
tion of  a  high  school  of  religious  sculpture  and  painting 
not  only  by  their  own  labours,  but  by  their  patronage 
and  encouragement  of  others.  None  took  a  greater 
share  in  this  undertaking  than  the  celebrated  Fra  Jacobo 
Passavanti,  of  whom  we  have  before  spoken  as  the  author 
of  "  The  Mirror  of  True  Penance,"  and  one  of  the  earliest 
fathers  of  the  Italian  idiom.  His  refined  and  admirable 
taste  led  him  to  form  intimate  ties  with  the  distinguished 
artists  of  the  day,  such  as  Orgagna  and  others ;  and  at 
his  solicitation,  under  the  superintendence  of  Fra  Jacobi 
Talenti,  they  completed  the  edifice,  and  made  it  an  almost 
unequalled  gallery  of  sacred  painting.  Nowhere,  perhaps, 
have  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  the  mediaeval  'theology 
been  so  perfectly  represented  and  preserved.  DanUs 
mind  and  imagination  seem  to  be  embodied  on  the  walls, 
and  we  have  already  indicated  the  source  whence  the 
great  poet  derived  the  religious  coloring  of  his  poems. 
To   show   how   close   the   connection  was   in  those   days 


CONNECTION  OF  ART  WITH  RELIGIOUS  REFORM.      283 

between  painting  and  theology,  we  may  remark  that 
whilst  Orgagna  was  employed  in  those  wonderful  frescoes 
which  represent  the  terrors  of  the  "Inferno,"  Simon 
Memmi  was  decorating  the  cloister  with  a  series  illus- 
trative of  the  mysteries  of  the  Church  triumphant  and 
militant,  where  we  find  the  Sacrament  of  Penance  placed, 
in  a  number  of  elaborate  designs,  as  the  entrance  to  the 
Church  triumphant,  every  image  being  taken  from  Pas- 
savanti's  work.  Indeed,  we  are  expressly  told  that  it 
was  he  who  superintended  the  whole  undertaking,  and 
that  the  ideas  and  mode  of  treatment  were  all  suggested 
by  him ;  a  circumstance  which  explains  the  remarkable 
unity  of  design  and  teaching  which  we  find  in  the  entire 
series. 

But  it  was  not  only  as  patrons  of  the  arts  that  the 
Friars  Preachers  evinced  an  appreciatian  of  their  power 
as  instruments  of  popular  instruction.  They  were 
artists  themselves:  and  there  is  one  remarkable  feature 
in  the  history  of  their  cultivation  of  Christian  art  which 
we  particularly  desire  to  notice  in  this  place.  Not  only 
was  it  essentially  a  Christian  school  of  painting  which 
flourished  in  the  Dominican  order,  but  one  which  was 
invariably  associated  with  the  spirit  of  religious  discipline 
and  reform.  Whilst  the  arts  have  elsewhere  but  too 
often  gained  themselves  an  ill  name  by  their  connection 
with  an  age  of  luxury  and  relaxation  of  morals,  wc  find 
that  in  the  cloisters  of  the  Friars  Preachers  they  were 
not  only  made  compatible  with  the  rigour  of  primitive 
discipline,  but  were  even  used  as  a  means  of  its  restora- 
tion, where  it  was  found  to  have  decayed.  The  chief 
patrons  of  art  in  the  Dominican  order  have  every  one 
been  among  her  greatest  and  most  austere  reformers ;  so 
that,  in  attempting  a  sketch  of  her  painters  and  sculptors, 
the  names  of  her  saints  and  ascetic  men  would  necessarily 
find  their  way  into  our  pages.  Blessed  John  Dominic, 
S.  Antoninus,  and  Jerome  Savonarola,  are  among  the  most 
conspicuous  of  those  who  fostered  artistic  genius  in  those 
very  cloisters  into  which  they  introduced  so  primitive  and 
austere  a  reform ;  and  this  fact  will  readily  explain  the 
very   spiritual  and   sublime   character  which   attaches  to 


284  THE  DOMINICAN  ORDER. 

productions  which  were  undertaken  in  close  association 
with  a  revival  of  religious  observance, — nay,  often  as  the 
very  instruments  of  effecting  it. 

No  man  probably  stands  more  distinguished  as  an 
ecclesiastical  reformer,  whether  in  the  Church  at  large 
or  in  his  own  order  in  particular,  than  he  whose  name  we 
have  already  so  often  referred  to, — the  blessed  John 
Dominic,  Cardinal  of  S.  Sixtus.  In  history  he  must 
always  be  remembered  as  one  who  bore  the  greatest  part 
in  extinguishing  the  fatal  schism  of  the  west.  He  also 
took  the  lead  in  the  reform  of  his  own  order,  and  was  the 
founder  of  several  convents  which  he  established  on  the 
principles  of  strict  regular  observance,  to  serve  as  nur- 
series of  sanctity,  and  models  of  the  institute  at  large. 
He  was  himself  an  artist  of  no  mean  capacity,  and  during 
the  early  years  of  his  religious  life  in  the  convent  of 
Santa  Maria  Novella  attained  to  singular  excellence  as  a 
miniaturist ;  many  of  the  choral  books  illuminated  by  his 
hand  at  this  period  being  still  preserved.  It  was,  there- 
fore, experience  rather  than  theory  which  taught  him  the 
use  which  might  be  made  of  religious  art  as  an  instru- 
ment of  community  reform ;  and  in  his  after  career  we 
are  told  that  in  every  convent  of  the  order,  whether  of 
men  or  women,  whose  regular  discipline  he  reformed, 
nay.  in  every  convent  that  he  built  from  the  foundations, 
"  he  invariably  laboured  to  introduce  the  most  noble 
art  of  painting,  whose  tendency  is  to  raise  the  soul  and 
the  heart  to  chaste  and  holy  thoughts."  Many  of  his 
letters  on  this  subject,  written  to  the  nuns  of  the  con- 
vent of  Corpus  Domini  at  Venice,  remain  to  attest  the 
truth  of  this  assertion.  In  them  he  directs  the  religious 
to  perfect  themselves  in  miniaturing  (by  which  is  here 
meant  the  devout  miniatures  in  choral  books)  and  offers 
to  complete  some,  the  final  tintings  of  which  were  too 
difficult  for  them  to  undertake.* 

We  shall  select   the  history  of  one  these  convents  of 

strict  observance,  both  for  the  sake  of  its  connection  with 

Dominican  art,   and  because  we  are  persuaded  that  our 

readers  will  gather  a  better  idea  of  the  spirit  of  the  order 

«  Marches^ 


FRA  ANGELICO   DA  FIESOLE  285 

at  this  period  of  its  revival  and  reform  from  such  a  narra- 
tive, than  by  a  separate  notice  of  the  illustrious  men  whose 
names  are  associated  with  its  foundation. 

It  was  then,  in  the  year  1406,  that  after  reestablishing 
regular  discipline  in  every  convent  of  the  Roman  pro- 
vince, John  Dominic  determined,  as  we  have  said,  on  the 
foundation  of  several  new  houses,  where  the  strict  letter 
of  the  rule  should  be  observed,  and  the  spirit  of  the  order 
carried  out  in  its  highest  perfection.  The  sunny  hill  of 
Fiesole  was  chosen  as  the  site  of  one  of  these ;  and  if,  as 
would  seem,  exterior  beauty  dwelt  on  in  a  religious  spirit 
was  judged  in  the  mind  of  its  founder  to  be  a  help  to  the 
devout  contemplation  of  God,  he  could  scarce  have  chosen 
a  fitter  spot  than  the  one  which  he  destined  for  his 
new  convent  of  S.  Dominic.  The  ground  was  given  by 
Altovito,  Bishop  of  Fiesole,  himself  a  Dominican  ;  and 
scarcely  had  the  work  been  begun,  when  rumours 
spread  far  and  near  that  the  building  then  in  course  of 
erection  was  intended  as  a  retreat  of  peculiar  sanctity,  or 
as  one  may  say  as  an  ideal  of  monastic  perfection.  S. 
Antoninus  was  among  the  first  of  those  who  presented 
themselves  for  admission,  being  attracted  by  the  rumoured 
holiness  of  the  new  foundation  ;  and  he  was  followed  two 
years  afterwards  by  the  two  brothers  Mugello,  better 
known  as  Fra  Benedetto,  and  Fra  Giovanni  Angelico  da 
Fiesole.  No  noviciate  being  as  yet  attached  to  the  con- 
vent, they  were  sent  to  Cortona,  where  the  blessed 
Lawrence  of  Ripafracta  became  their  novice-master  ; 
having  held  the  same  office  to  S.  Antoninus,  who  has  left 
a  eulogium  on  his  venerable  guide  and  teacher  in  the 
spiritual  life,  which  has  been  confirmed  in  our  own  day 
by  his  solemn  beatification.  "  By  reason  of  his  purity  of 
heart,"  says  Bzovius,  "  he  doubted  not  to  call  him 
blessed,"  And  besides  these  joined  with  them  in  the  ties 
of  holy  friendship,  there  was  the  blessed  Constantius 
Fabriano,  afterwards  the  reformer  of  Ascoli,  a  man  illus- 
trious for  miracles  and  the  gift  of  prayer  ;  and  Pietro 
Capucci,  to  whom  is  also  sometimes  given  the  title  of 
blessed.  In  fact,  Cortona  and  Fiesole  were  the  nurseries 
of  saints,  and  it  was  in  such  a  home,  and  in  such  fellow- 


286  THE  DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

ship,  that  the  genius  of  Angelico  received  its  stamp  of 
sanctity.  Of  all  the  painters  of  the  mystic  school  (by 
which  we  intend  to  designate  the  followers  or  imitators 
of  Giotto  in  opposition  to  the  naturalists  who  received 
so  powerful  an  encouragement  from  the  patronage  of  the 
Medici),  Angelico  stands  undoubtedly  highest ;  and  his 
merits  as  a  painter,  nay  more,  the  singular  and  irresistible 
spiritual  influence  of  his  works,  have  been  acknow- 
ledged by  critics  like  Vasari,  whose  mind  was  certainly 
cast  in  a  wholly  different  mould.  Yet  his  sketch  of  the 
Dominican  painter  is  itself  so  beautiful  and  truthful  a 
delineation  that  we  will  give  it  as  it  stands,  feeling  sure 
that  our  readers  will  gain  their  best  idea  of  the  character 
of  his  paintings  by  knowing  something  of  the  character 
of  the  man.  His  words  are  as  follows  :  "  Era  Giovanni 
was  a  man  of  holy  and  simple  habits  ;  he  lived  a  pure 
and  sanctified  life,  and  was  ever  the  friend  of  the  poor  on 
earth,  as  I  believe  also  that  his  soul  is  now  in  heaven. 
He  was  always  painting ;  and  never  wished  to  produce 
anything  save  for  the  saints.  He  was  wont  to  say  that 
true  riches  consist  in  being  content  with  little.  He 
might  easily  have  attained  to  high  dignities,  but  he  did 
not  esteem  them,  saying  that  the  only  dignity  he  desired 
was  to  escape  hell,  and  to  win  paradise.  He  was  very  gen- 
tle and  sober,  and  used  to  say  that  artists  needed  quiet,  and 
should  be  free  from  interruptions  ;  and  that  he  whose 
works  related  to  Christ  should  be  ever  communing  with 
Christ.  Never  was  he  known  to  exhibit  anger,  and  when 
he  had  occasion  to  admonish  any,  he  did  it  with  a  gentle 
smile.  When  others  sought  works  from  his  pencil  he 
was  wont  to  tell  them  with  extraordinary  amiability  that 
so  long  as  the  prior  was  satisfied  he  would  not  refuse 
them.  In  short,  both  in  actions  and  words,  he  was 
most  humble  and  modest,  and  in  his  painting  simple  and 
devout  ;  the  saints  he  painted  have  more  the  air  and 
resemblance  of  saints  than  those  of  any  other  artist. ' 
He  never  retouched  or  heightened  the  effect  of  any  of 
his  works,  but  left  them  just  as  they  came  from  his 
pencil,  believing  that  such  was  the  will  of  God.  Some 
say   he  never   took   up   his   brush   without   first   having 


FRA  ANGELICO   DA   FIESOLE.  287 

recourse  to  prayer.  Whenever  he  painted  a  crucifixion 
the  tears  streamed  down  his  cheeks,  and  it  is  easy,  in  the 
very  countenances  and  attitudes  of  his  figures,  to  see  the 
purity  of  his  heart,  and  his  devotion  to  the  Christian 
faith."  In  fact,  to  use  the  words  of  a  more  modern  critic, 
"  painting  was  his  ordinary  prayer,"  the  very  means  he 
used  to  raise  his  heart  to  God.  What  wonder  that  the 
works  of  such  a  man  should  bear  in  their  silent  eloquence 
something  of  that  strange  power  over  the  soul  which 
attaches  to  the  speech  or  the  writings  of  the  saints  ?  A 
power  which  genius  alone,  even  the  genius  of  Rafaele  or 
Michael  Angelo  can  never  attain  to  when  the  supernatural 
element  is  wanting. 

The  influence  exercised  by  the  poetry  of  Dante  over 
all  the  painters  of  the  mystic  school  was  of  a  very  singular 
character.  Giotto,  we  know,  was  the  friend  and  close 
associate  of  the  great  Florentine,  and  may  be  said  to  have 
illustrated  the  Divine  Commedio  by  his  pencil.  Nor  was 
Angelico  insensible  to  the  influence  of  that  master  mind. 
"  Dante,"  says  Marchese,  in  his  work  on  the  Dominican 
painters,  "  mated  the  doctrine  of  S.  Thomas  to  the  har- 
mony of  his  verse ;  and  I  would  venture  to  affirm  that 
Angelico  incarnated  and  coloured  the  conception  of  these 
two  great  men.  If  we  compare  his  pictures  with  the 
writings  of  the  philosopher  and  the  poet,  we  shall  have 
little  difficulty  in  detecting  the  identity  of  thought  that 
characterized  the  Italians  in  their  theories  of  the  super- 
natural, and  the  imagery  in  which  they  clothed  them." 
To  which  we  will  add,  that  a  study  of  the  works  of  these 
three  minds  will  probably  convey  the  most  perfect  idea  that 
could  be  formed  of  the  Christianity  of  the  middle  ages, 
and  would  enable  us  to  form  a  high  conception  of  the 
extent  to  which  the  theolgy  of  S.  Thomas,  illustrated  and 
popularized  as  it  was  to  men's  hearts  by  the  genius  of  the 
poet  and  the  painter,  diffused  its  influence  over  all  classes, 
and  found  new  ways  of  exercising  its  dictatorship  of 
Christian  philosophy. 

How  vast  a  distance  separates  this  school  of  superna- 
turalism  from  that  of  the  succeeding  centuries!  Two 
words  rise  to  our  lips  as  we  stand  before  any  of  the  great 


288  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

works  of  the  Angelico:  they  are  simplicity  and  faith;  and 
these  two  qualities,  whilst  they  express  the  whole  character 
of  his  mind  and  of  his  paintings,  seem  also  to  express  the 
religious  spirit  of  his  age.  What  their  influence  may  have 
been  in  keeping  alive  spirituality  and  asceticism  we  can  but 
estimate  by  contrasts.  Let  us  turn  to  the  productions  of 
a  later  school,  to  the  churches  restored,  as  it  was  called,  by 
the  enthusiasts  for  pagan  art,  whose  walls  are  defaced  by 
those  gross  imitators  of  nature  who  seem  to  value  the  art 
of  delineation  only  so  far  as  it  reproduces  the  idea  of  flesh 
and  blood ;  and  when  we  feel  the  evil  power  possessed  by 
such  representations,  of  obliterating  spiritual  impressions, 
and  substituting  in  their  room  the  merest  images  of  sense, 
we  feel  also  how  different  and  wholly  unearthly  must  have 
been  the  thoughts  and  tone  of  mind  of  those  trained  to 
prayer  and  contemplation  in  the  midst  of  that  supernatural 
system  which  in  the  ages  of  faith  was  preached  from  the 
very  walls  of  church  and  cloister. 

The  reforms  begun  by  John  Dominic  were  carried  out 
in  the  same  spirit  by  his  disciple  S.  Antoninus,  who,  pre- 
vious to  his  elevation  to  the  see  of  Florence,  governed 
successively  the  convents  of  Rome,  Naples,  Gaeta,  Cortona, 
Siena,  Fiesole,  and  Florence.  At  the  latter  place  Cosmo 
de  Medici  made  over  to  the  Friars  Preachers  the  convent 
of  S.  Mark,  which  he  endowed  with  his  usual  munificence, 
and  S.  Antoninus  became  prior  of  the  new  house,  to  which 
Angelico  and  his  brother  were  soon  summoned,  and  where 
they  have  left  the  most  glorious  monuments  of  their  genius. 
S.  Mark's  soon  became  another  Fiesole,  a  home  and  nur- 
sery of  sanctity,  and  at  the  same  time  a  gallery  of  the 
most  glorious  productions  of  Christian  art.  Indeed,  wt> 
linow  that  S.  Antoninus,  like  his  predecessor,  John  Dominic, 
was  not  only  a  patron  and  encourager  of  art,  but  was 
himself  possessed  of  considerable  skill  in  painting,  and 
many  of  the  choral  books  of  S.  Mark's  still  claim  to  be 
those  which  received  their  illuminations  from  his  venerable 
hands.  And  widely  different  as  their  part  in  life  was  des- 
tined to  become,  the  name  of  Antoninus,  the  mirror  of 
prelates,  the  reformer  of  his  order,  the  doctor  of  the 
Church,  is  always  sweetly  and  closely  associated  with  that 


FRA   ANGELICO   DA   FIESOLE.  289 

of  Fra  Angelico  whose  life  was  so  essentially  hidden  and 
contemplative,  and  whose  only  learning  was  that  of  his 
pencil.  Every  one  knows  the  story  of  his  visit  to  Rome, 
and  how  Eugenius  IV.  is  said  to  have  been  so  struck  with 
his  peculiar  sanctity,  that  he  would  have  elevated  him  to 
the  vacant  archbishopric  of  Florence,  had  not  the  painter 
declined  the  dignity,  and  suggested  Fra  Antonio  as  the 
fitter  person  for  so  exalted  an  office;  so  that,  if  the  tale 
be  authentic,  and  there  seems  no  reasonable  ground  for 
doubting  it,  we  may  consider  the  glorious  episcopate  of 
S.  Antoninus  as  in  no  small  degree  to  be  attributed  to  the 
recommendation  of  his  friend.  Those  who  are  familiar 
with  his  story  will  remember  also  that  instance  of  his 
naive  simplicity,  so  like  what  we  realize  of  his  character, 
when  we  are  told  how,  on  being  invited  to  dine  with  the 
holy  father,  he  declined,  saying  he  could  not  eat  meat, 
without  his  prior's  permission,  quite  forgetting  the  dispen- 
sing power  of  the  supreme  Pontiff.  He  lies  in  the  church 
of  the  Minerva,  and  it  is  said  the  Pope  himself  wrote 
the  inscription  we  read  over  his  tomb ;  remarkable  for  the 
circumstances  that  even  there,  and  so  immediately  after 
his  death,  the  expression  occurs  which  has  been  sanc- 
tioned, if  not  by  the  formal  declaration  of  the  Church, 
at  least  by  the  common  consent  of  her  people.  The  words 
run  thus: — 

Here  lies  the  Venerable  Painter, 
Brother  John  of  Florence,  of  the  Order  of  Preachers. 
Fra  Angelico  had  no  disciples  among  the  ranks  of  his 
own  brethren,  nevertheless,  though  he  can  searcely  be 
said  to  have  formed  a  school,  or  to  have  trained  others  in 
his  peculiar  style,  there  were  many  of  the  order  who  trod 
in  his  footsteps,  though  there  were  none  who  came  near 
to  him  in  artistic  skill.  Thus  we  read  of  a  certain  Fra 
Girolamo  Monsignori,  whose  character,  sketched  also  by 
Vasari,  is  precisely  of  the  same  stamp  as  that  of  the 
great  painter:  "He  was  chiefly  distinguished,"  he  says, 
"  for  his  love  of  prayer  and  seclusion,  and  his  indifference 
to  the  world.  The  money  which  he  earned  by  his  works, 
and  expended  on  the  purchase  of  colours,  was  hung  up  in 
an  old  box  without  a  lid,  so  that  any  one  who  wanted  it 


290  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

might  come  and  use  it.  To  avoid  all  trouble  about  daily 
food,  he  cooked  every  Monday  a  pot  of  beans,  and  this 
supplied  him  during  the  week.  When  Mantua  was  visited 
by  the  plague  and  every  one  fled  in  alarm,  he,  moved  by 
charity,  refused  to  abandon  the  sick  fathers,  but  tended 
them  with  his  own  hands.  So,  sacrificing  his  life  to  God, 
he  caught  the  contagion  and  died,  being  of  the  age  of 
sixty."  How  full,  too,  of  the  religious  spirit  of  Angelico 
is  the  inscription  which  we  read  on  the  painted  window 
in  the  church  of  S.  Dominic  at  Perugia,  which  tells  us 
that  the  window  is  consecrated  "  to  the  honour  of  God 
and  of  the  most  Holy  Virgin,  of  S.  James,  and  the  blessed 
Dominic,  and  of  the  celestial  choir,  by  Brother  Bartolomeo, 
the  least  of  the  order  of  Preachers,  who,  with  the  Divine 
aid,  furnished  it  in  the  year  1411."  Glass-painting, 
indeed,  was  an  art  particularly  cultivated  in  the  order,  and 
produced  the  only  really  beatified  saint  who  was  distin- 
guished as  a  painter ;  this  was  the  blessed  James  of  Ulm,* 
a  lay  brother  in  the  convent  of  Bologna,  and  the  master 
of  a  school  of  artists  who  rivalled  him  both  in  genius  and 
in  sanctity. 

But  we  must  pass  on  to  another  period  when  the  connec- 
tion between  religious  art,  as  cultivated  by  the  Dominican 
order,  and  a  spirit  of  ecclesiastical  reform,  was  destined 
to  be  more  fully  and  strikingly  illustrated  than  even  in 
the  example  of  the  Cardinal  John  Dominic.  In  speaking 
of  it  we  must  necessarily  carry  our  narrative  to  a  later 
date  than  that  with  which  we  concluded  our  last  chapter ; 
but  as  it  is  not  our  intention  to  return  to  this  subject,  we 
shall  refer  to  the  one  or  two  facts  which  seem  to  claim 
our  notice,  without  attending  to  the  chronological  order 
of  our  sketch;  and  there  seems  no  fitter  place  than  this 
in  which  to  speak  of  one  whose  enthusiasm  for  Christian 
art  is  certainly  not  the  least  remarkable  feature  in 
his  character:  we  refer,  of  course,  to  the  unfortunate 
Savonarola. 

We    have    already    mentioned   Cosmo   de  Medici    as 
having   endowed  the  order  of  Friars  Preachers  with  the 
convent  of  S.  Mark's  at  Florence.      He  was  the  first   of 
*  See  No.  XIX.  of  "  Tales  and  Legends  from  History." 


THE   AGE   OE   THE   MEDICI.  291 

his  family  who  attained  to  the  chief  and  supreme  rule  in 
the  Florentine  republic,  and  under  him  and  his  successors 
it  may,  indeed,  be  said  that  the  state  was  a  republic  no 
longer.  The  very  name  of  his  race  carries  with  it  the 
idea  of  all  that  is  splendid  and  refined ;  the  restoration  of 
learning,  and  encouragement  of  science  and  commerce, 
and,  above  all,  a  special  patronage  of  the  arts.  And  yet, 
for  all  this,  we  can  scarcely  be  wrong  in  saying  that 
Christian  art  and  feeling  had  no  more  fatal  enemies  in 
the  fifteenth  century  than  the  illustrious  members  of  the 
Medici  family;  and  that  it  was  they  who  chiefly  gave 
that  impulse  to  pagan  literature  and  pagan  philosophy 
and  art,  from  whose  deadly  effects  the  world  is  only  in 
our  own  day  beginning  to  revive.  The  fall  of  Constanti- 
nople drove  multitudes  of  Greek  scholars  and  artists  into 
Europe,  and  nowhere  did  they  receive  a  more  princely 
welcome  than  at  the  court  of  Cosmo  the  Magnificent. 
A  fashion,  if  we  may  so  say,  set  in  for  classic  studies  ; 
Plato  took  the  place  of  S.  Thomas,  and  we  begin  to  hear 
in  the  popular  writers  of  the  day  more  of  the  "  virtues  of 
philosophy,"  and  "the  sublime  mysteries  of  Platonism," 
than  of  either  the  virtues  or  the  mysteries  of  the  gospel. 
'•  In  fact,"  says  a  modern  historian  of  this  period, 
"  Florence  was  heathenized  by  the  Medici,  and  pagan 
philosophy  was  made  the  rule  of  life  for  the  scholars  and 
sages  of  this  new  Athens  of  intellectual  refinement." 
Yet  the  evil  had  its  commencement  only  in  the  lifetime 
of  Cosmo. 

The  dazzling  brilliancy  of  the  age  of  the  Medici  has 
too  often  blinded  the  eyes  of  its  historians,  as  it  did 
those  of  contemporaries,  and  concealed  from  their  view 
the  fatal  character  of  that  revolution  which  was  effected 
in  society  during  the  fifteenth  century.  If  we  con- 
sider some  of  the  elements  then  at  work,  we  may  easily 
perceive  that  in  no  way  could  the  world  have  escaped 
a  period  of  powerful  agitation  and  intellectual  excite- 
ment. At  one  and  the  same  time,  the  stores  of  ancient 
classic  learning  were  being  poured  into  the  capitals  of 
the  west,  brought  thither  after  the  fall  of  the  eastern 
empire,  by  the  crowd  of  refugee  scholars  and  philosophers 


292  THE   DOMINICAN    ORDER. 

who  found  their  chief  asylums  at  Rome  and  in  the  northern 
cities  of  Italy  ;  whilst  the  newly-discovered  art  of 
printing  lent  its  aid  to  diffuse  these  new  studies,  and, 
in  the  words  of  Marchese,  "  sowed  broadcast  the  seeds"  of 
pagan  erudition. 

Old  principles  of  thought  were  breaking  up :  Aristotle 
and  his  school  of  Christian  interpreters  were  abandoned  ; 
and  Plato,  who  took  his  place,  was  thought  to  need  no 
Christian  interpreter  at  all.  No  century  could,  probably, 
be  selected  so  brilliant  in  names  of  literary  greatness  ; 
but  when  we  glance  at  the  character  of  their  genius,  we 
tremble  at  the  combination  of  so  much  mental  power  with 
so  enormous  a  depravity.  The  world  was  no  longer  to 
be  ruled  by  the  brute  force  of  barbarous  ages,  and  the 
people  showed  a  disposition  to  free  themselves  from  the 
yoke  of  their  feudal  rulers,  whose  power  was  everywhere 
giving  way  before  the  refinement  and  civilization  of  the 
age.  But,  in  exchange,  they  fell  under  a  different  and 
more  subtle  tyranny.  It  was  the  age  of  Machiavelism,  and 
the  principles  of  state  policy,  and  we  may  add,  of  state 
iniquity,  were  in  the  vigour  of  their  first  developement. 
"  In  wickedness  of  policy,"  says  Marchese,  "  no  age  ever 
surpassed  the  fifteenth  century,  for  it  fought,  not  with 
arms  and  valour,  but  with  fraud  and  poisons,  and  few 
ever  equalled  it  in  the  corruption  of  its  morality."  In 
Tuscany  the  Medici,  in  their  attempt  to  secure  the 
supreme  power,  not  only  pursued  this  object  with  a  total 
indifference  to  the  protection  of  morals,  but  made  the 
indulgence  of  the  people  in  a  certain  licence  of  manners 
one  of  the  most  approved  methods  of  acquiring  the 
dominion  at  which  they  aimed.  It  has  ever  been  the 
line  of  all  who  have  grasped  at  a  usurped  dictator- 
ship, to  amuse  and  intoxicate  the  multitudes  by 
pageant  and  festivals,  by  which  their  senses  are  dazzled, 
and  their  minds  distracted  from  an  apprehension  of  their 
real  danger.  This  was  the  peculiar  policy  of  the  Medici, 
and  they  cared  little  for  the  licentiousness  which  quickly 
infused  its  poison  into  every  vein  of  society,  so  long  as 
the  world  applauded,  and  the  state  submitted ;  and 
Florence  was  content  to  sacrifice  its  liberty  in   exchange 


THE   AGE   OF    THE   MEDICI.  293 

for  the  enjoyment  of  that  unbridled  freedom  which  dis- 
figured the  very  arts  of  which  they  claimed  to  be  the 
special  and  most  magnificent  patrons.  Alas!  these  great 
patrons  of  art  were,  in  too  man^  ways,  its  gTeat  corrupters. 
What  could  be  anticipated  from  an  intellectual  move' 
ment  so  thoroughly  and  essentially  pagan  in  its  tendencies, 
that  we  find  examples  like  that  of  a  certain  Florentine 
canon,  who,  in  his  idolatry  of  Plato,  went  so  fir  as  to  burn 
a  lamp  in  his  chamber  before  an  image  of  his  favourite 
philosopher ! 

Whatever  may  be  the  merit  of  the  Medici  as  the 
revivers  of  classical  learning,  and  the  great  encouragers 
of  genius  in  every  shape,  the  prestige  of  their  magnifi- 
cence is  something  tarnished  when  we  view  it  closer. 
The  imaginative  arts  had  hitherto  been  the  weapons  of 
Christianity  against  the  world :  they  now  became  arms 
in  the  hands  of  the  world,  warring  against  Christi- 
anity. Let  us  hear  a  modern  author  speaking  of  the 
period  when  Lorenzo  de  Medici  ruled  the  republic,  of 
Florence  as  its  absolute  sovereign: — "Among  the  means 
adopted  by  this  great  and  astute  man  to  secure  his 
power,  always  increasing,  over  the  Florentine  people, 
he  imagined  a  new  style  of  poetry  which  he  called 
"  Ganti  Carnascialesclii"  or  carnival-songs,  in  order  to 
give  more  effect  to  certain  masquerades  in  which  some 
triumph  or  subject  of  art  was  represented.  He  spared 
no  expense  to  render  these  orgies  attractive  and  brilliant. 
The  chariots  and  carousers  went  about  the  city  from 
after  dinner  to  two,  and  even  three,  hours  of  the  night, 
men  wearing  masks  following  them  on  horseback,  richly 
apparelled,  with  flames  and  torches.  In  this  order  they 
paraded  the  city  with  singers  and  musicians,  singing 
ballads  and  madrigals  suitable  to  the  character  of  each 
masquerade."  He  then  gives  us  the  names  of  subjects 
of  some  of  these  representations,  some  being  heathen 
fables,  as  "  The  triumph  of  Bacchus  and  Ariadne  ;"  others 
of  a  satirical  character,  adding  that  these  festivals,  and 
the  poetry  which  was  sung  in  them,  "  were  for  the 
most  part  indecent  and  immoral."*  In  fact,  one  cannot 
«  De  Rians. 


294  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

acquit  the  Mecsenas,  or  the  Augustus  of  Florence,  as 
his  flatterers  loved  to  call  him,  of  a  deliberate  plan  for 
securing  his  power  over  the  populace  by  means  of  the 
corruption  of  the  public  taste  and  manners.  Nay,  what 
was  the  very  art  that  he  encouraged  and  revived  ?  We 
may  quote  a  French  writer  of  our  own  day,  one  of  those 
many  generous  champions  of  Catholic  faith  and  purity 
who,  thanks  be  to  God,  are  fast  obliterating  from  the 
literature  of  their  country  the  associations  of  a  past  age 
of  infidelity.  "  Antiquity,"  says  Carlier,  "  was  patron- 
ized by  the  Medici  only  on  the  side  of  sensuality. 
Their  love  for  pagan  art  was  not  a  classic  taste,  but  a 
voluptuous  passion.  In  literature,  Ovid,  Catullus,  and 
Tibullus,  were  in  greater  favour  with  them  than  Homer, 
Cicero,  and  Caesar.  Their  celebrated  garden  at  Florence 
became  the  sanctuary  of  a  nude  naturalism  in  art.  Deve- 
lopments of  form — the  mere  manifestations  of  physical 
perfection — statues  of  divinities  who  presided  of  old 
over  the  orgies  of  unbridled  vice, — these  attracted  the 
public  admiration,  and  found  a  species  of  worship  in 
obsequious  criticism,  in  poetry,  and  even  in  philosophic 
contemplation."* 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  in  Florence,  when  a  chance 
meeting  at  the  chapter-general  of  the  order,  held  at  Reggio 
in  1445,  introduced  Jerome  Savonarola  to  the  notice  of 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  that  remarkable  age. 
This  was  John  Picus  Mirandola,  "  the  phoenix  of  intel- 
lects," as  he  was  styled:  a  prodigy  of  learning,  whose 
wonderful  mind  had  happily  early  drunk  deep  at  those 
sacred  sources  of  Christian  theology  which  made  all  things 
pure  to  him.  The  intellectual  wonder  of  his  age,  he  was 
able  to  say  with  the  profound  conviction  of  one  who  utters 
the  experience  of  a  life,  "Philosophy  seeks  for  truth, 
theology  finds  it,  religion  possesses  it."f  Among  all  the 
great  intelligences  whom  the  Medici  had  attracted  to 
their  court,  there  was  none  so  distinguished  for  his  vast 
attainments,  his  undisputed  taste,  and  his  lofty  and  irre- 
proachable character,  as  the  young  prince  of  Mirandola ; 

•  Carlier,  AZstMtiquea  di  Savonarola 
f  Epist.  Joh.  Pic.  Mir- 


SAVONAROLA.  295 

and  at  his  first  meeting  with  Savonarola,  "  spirit  sprang  to 
spirit,"  and  a  friendship  was  formed  between  them  which 
remained  unbroken  during  the  whole  of  their  lives.  On 
his  return  to  Florence,  Mirandola  exerted  all  his  influence 
with  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  to  invite  the  gifted  friar  to  his 
capital,  and  five  years  afterwards  Savonarola  was  estab- 
lished in  the  convent  of  S.  Mark,  and  was  almost  imme- 
diately elected  prior  of  that  community. 

Of  all  the  illustrious  men  of  the  Dominican  order 
there  is  none  whose  name  has  such  a  world-wide  interest 
as  that  of  Savonarola.  Something  of  the  spell  which 
attracted  men  to  him  during  his  life  almost  against  their 
will,  still  attaches  to  his  memory ;  and  sparks  of  that 
enthusiasm  which  he  kindled  by  his  strange  eloquence 
even  now  survive  among  us.  His  career,  from  the  time  of 
his  entrance  into  Florence  to  the  day  of  his  ignominious 
death,  occupied  the  short  space  of  eight  years  :  during 
that  time  he  combated  single-handed  against  the  corrup- 
tions of  the  world  around  him :  against  licentiousness  of 
morals,  corruptions  in  public  government,  and  paganism 
in  literature  and  the  arts.  As  a  religious,  he  was  the 
strictest,  yet  the  gentlest  of  reformers  :  we  see  him,  in  our 
mind's  eye,  walking  through  those  glorious  cloisters  of 
S.  Mark's,  rich  with  the  fairest  creations  of  Angelico's 
imagination,  with  the  ivory  death's-head  that  he  was  wont 
to  carry  in  his  hand,  and  with  that  look  of  sweetness  and 
repose  about  him  which,  we  are  told,  was  one  of  the 
secrets  of  his  influence  over  others,  and  which  kindled  an 
indescribable  feeling  of  interior  consolation  in  all  who 
approached  him.  His  first  work  as  a  reformer,  and  that 
which  was  the  most  successful  and  abundant  in  its  fruits, 
was  in  his  own  order.  Everywhere  he  endeavoured  to 
introduce  the  old  spirit  of  poverty  and  religious  simpli- 
city ;  a  spirit  little  in  accordance  with  the  manners  of  the 
time,  but  which  he  found  ways  and  means  of  fostering 
out  of  the  richness  and  fertility  of  his  own  inventive 
genius.  What  cannot  one  master  mind  effect  when,  in 
addition  to  its  greatness  and  its  power,  it  knows  how  to 
charm  by  a  sweet  familiar  intercourse  with  all  ranks  and 
ail   ages:    when  it  can  be  grave  with  sadder   and  elder 


296  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

hearts,  and  can  unbend  to  children ;  can  discourse  of 
divine  things,  and  expound  the  sacred  Scriptures  with 
theologians,  or  gather  the  novices  and  little  ones  of 
Christ,  and  exert  all  its  skill  and  all  its  gracious 
pleasantry  to  amuse!  And  so  it  was  with  the  prior  of 
S.  Mark's.  We  can  watch  him  in  the  convent  garden, 
singing  canticles  with  his  novices,  or  sitting  under  the 
shadow  of  the  fig-tree,  amusing  them  by  cutting  out  the 
pith  of  trees  into  images  of  little  doves,  or  teaching  them 
simple  games,  wherein  some  saint  of  pure  and  holy  life 
was  commemorated,  and  praises  and  divine  songs  were 
sung  in  honour  of  the  Child  Jesus,  or  of  the  blessed 
Virgin.  This  was  one  of  his  methods  of  guidance; 
another  was  the  introduction  of  habits  of  industry  among 
all  the  members  of  the  community.  He  contrived  to 
infuse  his  own  spirit  among  them,  and  one  of  the  great 
weapons  used  by  him  for  the  preservation  of  this  spirit 
of  primitive  and  spiritual  religion  was  the  introduction 
and  cultivation  of  Christian  art.  In  every  convent  over 
which  his  influence  extended,  and  in  all  which  he  founded, 
whether  of  men  or  of  women,  the  arts  of  painting  and 
modelling  were  introduced,  and  carried  on  in  strict  accord- 
ance with  those  maxims  which  our  own  day  is  fast 
recognizing  as  the  truest  definitions  of  beauty  ever  given 
to  the  world. 

We  should  be  exceeding  the  limits  of  our  subject  were 
we  to  give  the  extracts  from  Savonarola's  sermons  and 
writings,  wherein  he  lays  down  the  rules  of  spiritual 
beauty,  and  attacks  with  a  bold  and  fearless  eloquence 
the  profane  and  abominable  representations  from  the 
school  of  naturalism  which  had  found  their  way  into  the 
holy  places.  Art  was  in  his  eyes  one  of  the  great 
elements  by  which  men  were  to  be  humanized  and 
christianized:  he  considered  it  as  a  want  of  the  people, 
and,  unlike  others  who  had  entered  on  the  task  of 
reform,  far  from  proscribing  it,  he  encouraged  it  with 
all  the  force  of  his  enthusiastic  eloquence ;  his  denun- 
ciations fell  only  on  the  sensualism  which  had  usurped 
its  name.  We  refer  the  reader  to  the  beautiful  work  of 
Rio,    "  La  Poesie  en  TArt,"    to  Marchese's  "  Lives  of  the 


SAVONAROLA.  29? 

Dominican  Painters  and  Sculptors,"  and  to  Carlier's 
article*  on  the  "  ^Esthetics  of  Savonarola,"  if  they  would 
form  any  idea  of  the  corruptions  which  he  attacked,  or 
of  the  principles  which  he  brought  into  opposition.  No 
one  can  rise  from  the  perusal  of  these  authors,  or  of 
those  passages  of  Savonarola's  own  writings  which  touch 
on  the  subject  without  feeling  that  he  in  the  most 
intimate  and  delicate  manner  apprehended  that  super- 
natural and  spiritual  idea  of  art  which  had  found  its 
incarnation  in  the  works  of  Angelico  ;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  he  will  receive  an  impression  of  the  cha- 
racter of  that  classic  revival  so  lauded  by  the  admirers  of 
the  Medici,  which  makes  us  glad  to  leave  the  task  of 
exposure  to  other  hands  and  other  pages.  Let  him  turn 
to  the  Lenten  Sermons  in  which  the  great  orator  attacks 
the  profligacy  of  the  church-decoraters  in  such  indignant 
strains  of  eloquence,  and  in  the  same  breath  defines  the 
idea  -of  beauty,  apart  from  form,  as  something  whose 
essential  principle  must  be  light  and  purity.  Powerful, 
indeed,  must  have  been  that  oratory,  whose  effects  are 
said  by  Burlamacchi  to  have  been  like  an  irresistible 
magic,  even  on  hardened  and  debased  minds  like  those  of 
the  Florentine  artists.  As  in  the  days  of  the  Apostles, 
they  came  and  laid  at  their  feet  the  materials  of  their 
unholy  trade.  Baccio  della  Porta,  afterwards  known  in 
religion  as  the  celebrated  Fra  Bartolomeo,  with  several 
others,  brought  all  their  designs  and  works  of  a  reprehen- 
sible character,  and  offered  to  destroy  them  before'  his 
eyes.  Others  left  his  presence  with  vows  on  the  lips, 
never  again  to  degrade  the  art  of  sculpture  or  painting 
by  prostituting  them  to  the  encouragement  of  vice.  The 
change  effected  by  his  fervid  oratory  was  felt,  not  among 
the  artists  alone,  but  in  all  ranks  and  professions.  The 
quick  and  ardent  sensibilities  of  the  Florentines  were 
captivated  by  that  eloquence  which  undoubtedly,  in  its 
bewitching  charm,  surpassed  everything  which  the  world 
of  antiquity  had  known. 

"  The  people,"    says   Burlamacchi,     "  rose   from  their 
beds  at  midnight  to  go  to  the  sermon,  and  waited  uncovered 
*  Published  in  the  H  Annales  Arch6ologiques,"  1847. 


298  THE   DOMINICAN    ORDER. 

at  the  doors  of  the  cathedral  till  they  were  opened,  never 
complaining  of  the  inconvenience,  or  exposure  to  the 
cold  air,  of  standing  in  the  winter  time  on  the  bare  marble  ; 
and  amongst  them  were  young  and  old,  women  and 
children,  of  every  class,  all  filled  with  great  joy,  and  going 
to  the  sermon  as  to  a  wedding.  In  the  church  was  pro- 
found silence;  not  a  whisper  heard  in  the  great  multi- 
tude till  the  children  came,  who  sang  some  hymns  with 
such  sweetness  that  Paradise  seemed  opened.  And  so 
they  would  wait  three  or  four  hours  till  the  father 
ascended  the  pulpit.  Profane  songs  were  now  no  longer 
heard,  but  spiritual  canticles,  often  the  composition  of 
Savonarola  himself;  these  they  sometimes  chanted  in 
chorus  on  the  highways,  as  friars  do  in  the  choir.  Mothers 
were  seen  in  the  street  reciting  the  office  with  their 
children.  The  women,  now  dressed  with  modesty,  and 
even  the  children,  sent  a  deputation  to  the  governors  of 
the  city  praying  them  to  enact  laws  for  the  protection  of 
good  morals."  All  classes  crowded  round  the  wonderful 
friar,  and  gave  in  their  enthusiastic  adhesion  to  his  plan 
of  social  reform.  "  The  grand  intellects,"  says  Marchese, 
"  whom  the  Medici  had  attracted  to  their  court,  all 
bowed  before  the  majesty  of  his  surpassing  eloquence." 
There  was  the  Count  de  Mirandola,  who  after  renouncing 
his  government,  desired  to  enter  the  order  of  S.  Dominic ; 
but,  death  preventing  the  accomplishment  of  this  design, 
he  directed  that  at  least  his  body  should  be  buried  in  the 
holy  habit,  which  was  accordingly  done.  There  was 
Zanobi  Acciajuoli,  the  classic  scholar  of  his  day,  and 
Politian,  the  most  refined  and  elegant  of  Lorenzo's 
courtiers.  Such  a  crowd  of  Florentine  nobles  solicited 
the  habit  that  S.  Mark's  had  to  be  enlarged ;  and,  on 
the  death  of  Savonarola,  the  convent  counted  upwards  of 
two  hundred  friars,  and  eighty  novices,  all1  of  whom, 
we  are  assured,  persevered.  As  to  the  artists  to  whom 
Savonarola  unfolded  his  glorious  idea  of  beauty,  Vasari 
compares  their  enthusiasm  to  a  delirium.  They  threw 
themselves  into  the  ranks  of  the  order  like  volunteers 
flocking  to  a  patriot  band  ;  and,  indeed,  at  that  time  the 
purification  of  art  and  of  literature  was  regarded  as  a  kind 


SAVONAROLA.  299 

of  patriotism.  On  the  one  hand  were  those  who  usurped 
a  despotism  over  Florence,  and  sought  to  govern  her  hy 
her  degradation  ;  on  the  other  side  was  the  cause  of 
the  republic  ;  and,  as  Savonarola  would  fain  have  had  it 
thought,  that  cause  was  indissolubly  tied  up  with  social 
reform,  and  the  restoration  of  Christian  purity  in  morals, 
letters  and  education.  It  was  a  tremendous  struggle,  and 
we  well   know  how   it    ended.      Yet,   ere  the  bloood  of 

the  great  victim  flowed,  he  had  achieved  a  triumph,  the 
memory  of  which  was  not  to  be  effaced  even  by  the  fury  of 
the  Arrabbiati. 

Not  to  dwell  too  long  on  the  details  of  a  period  whose 
interest  insensibly  carries  us  beyond  our  limits,  we  must 
just  give  the  account  left  us  by  Burlamacchi,  of  one  of 
the  reformed  carnival  festivities.  A  year  or  two  before, 
these  hoildays  had  been  ovations  to  vice  :  they  were  now 
made  the  solemn  inauguration  of  restored  Christianity. 

"  At  the  beginning  of  the  carnival,  1497,  the  father 
ordered  that  there  should  be  a  very  solemn  procession, 
full  of  mysteries ;  and  he  caused  to  be  erected  in  the 
Piazza  dei  Signori,  a  large  cabin,  within  which  were 
collected  all  vain  and  abominable  objects  which  the 
children  had  gathered  from  all  parts  of  the  city.  The 
joiners  had  constructed  a  pyramid,  and  in  its  hollow 
placed  a  great  quantity  of  brushwood  and  gunpowder. 
On  its  steps  were  laid  and  arranged  all  the  various  offen- 
sive objects.  On  the  first  step,  most  precious  tapestries, 
whereon  indecent  figures  had  been  worked  ;  above  them 
figures  and  portraits  of  the  fairest  damsels  of  Florence; 
on  another  step,  cards,  dice,  and  such  like  diabolical  inven- 
tions ;  on  another,  musical  instruments  of  all  kinds. 
Then  came  the  adornments  of  women  :  false  hair,  mirrors, 
perfumes,  cyprus-powder,  and  similar  varieties.  Then 
masks,  beards,  and  other  carnival  trumpery.  Then  the 
works  of  the  Latin  and  modern  poets,  Boccaccio,  Petrarch, 
and  the  like.  Then  many  most  beautiful  works  of  the 
chisel  and  the  pencil,  with  some  ivory  and  alabaster  chess- 
men for  which  a  certain  Venetian  merchant  had  offered 
20,000  crowns ;  but,  instead  of  letting  him  have  them, 
they    painted    him    to    the   life,    enthroned   him   at   the 


300  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

top  as  the  king  of  all  these  vanities.  Then  the  whole 
was  set  on  fire,  the  flames  mounted  up  to  heaven,  and  all 
these  vanities  were  consumed." 

Some  of  our  readers  may  think  this  indiscriminate 
destruction  of  the  chefs  oVauvres  of  the  Florentine  artists 
a  strange  instance  to  cite  in  illustration  of  the  services 
rendered  by  Savonarola  to  the  cause  of  art  ;  and  coupling 
such  a  fact  with  the  circumstance  of  his  oppposition  having 
been  directed  against  works  of  the  pagan  or  classical 
school,  they  may  receive  an  impression  that  the  question 
was  a  mere  rivalry  of  styles,  and  that  the  zeal  shown  by 
the  Dominican  friar  was  but  a  development  of  that 
bigoted  medievalism  which  would  limit  Christian  art  to 
one  form  of  expression,  and  would  resist  the  renaissance 
of  the  15th  century  simply  as  being  a  departure  from  the 
antique  ecclesiastical  type.  To  hold  up  such  a  principle 
as  worthy  of  veneration  and  imitation  would  not  only  be 
a  mistake,  but  even  a  dangerous  one,  calculated  to  foster 
that  insidious  error  so  inseparable  from  an  heretical 
spirit,  the  inclination,  namely,  to  petrify  truth  into  some 
particular  form  arbitrarily  chosen,  denying  to  the  Church 
her  power  of  adopting  every  variety  of  style  and  system, 
and  bending  them  to  her  purpose  ;  and  above  all  it  would 
be  to  encourage  that  disposition  to  exalt  antiquity  over  the 
Church's  living  authority,  which,  even  when  it  does  not 
extend  to  an  actaul  revolt  against  her  teaching,  argues 
but  a  cold  sympathy  with  her  in  matters  of  feeling,  and  has 
been  the  Jansenism  of  every  age. 

For  it  cannot  be  forgotten  that,  whatever  be  each  one's 
taste  in  such  matters,  there  could  plainly  be  no  question 
of  orthodoxy  involved  in  the  struggle  between  mediaeval 
art  and  the  cinque  cento.  Even  if  there  were  a  secret 
danger  lurking  in  the  revival  of  a  style  closely  associated 
with  paganism,  the  Church  had  power  to  annul  the  evil  by 
consecrating  those  classic  forms  to  Christian  purposes; 
and  that  she  has  done  so,  and  in  the  centre  of  Chris- 
tendom has  permitted  the  modern  taste  to  prevail 
over  the  Mediaeval  style,  ought  not  to  be  without  its 
significance  to  those  amongst  ourselves  who  would  pin 
down  Catholicism  in  art  and  architecture  to  the  taste  of 


THE   RENAISSANCE.  301 

any  particular  century  chosen  by  themselves.  We  are 
aware  that  the  advocates  of  the  modern  classical  renais- 
sance go  even  further,  and  not  only  marvel  how  the 
grotesque  forms  of  the  middle  ages  can  be  preferred  to 
the  truer  delineation  of  nature,  and  bolder  design  of  the 
school  of  artists  who  sprang  up  during  the  age  of  the 
Medici,  but  assert  that  the  genius  of  the  great  men  of 
the  fifteenth  century  has  created  a  new  era  in  Christian 
aesthetics,  and  that  the  result  has  been  not  merely  the 
adaptation  of  the  classical  forms  to  the  warmer  and  more 
joyous  spirit  which  characterizes  the  modern  Church, 
but  the  creation  of  a  style  by  which  that  spirit  must  be 
almost  exclusively  expressed.  Nor  is  it  wonderful  that 
they  who  have  drunk  in  Catholic  devotional  feeling  under 
the  wonderful  dome  of  Michael  Angelo,  or  before  the 
unscreened  altars  of  modern  Rome,  and  who  find  in  the 
Madonnas  of  Rafaele  and  his  contemporaries  their  highest 
ideals  of  human  beauty,  should  corae  to  associate  Grecian 
architecture  and  the  productions  of  a  school  of  painting 
which  avowedly  drew  its  inspiration  from  life  and  nature, 
with  their  own  tenderest  impressions  of  Catholic  worship ; 
and  that,  overlooking  with  an  indulgent  partiality  the 
sensualism  which  too  often  mingles  with  the  beauty, 
they  should  claim  the  pre-eminence  in  Christian  art  for 
that  style  which  is  identified  in  their  minds  with  modern 
Rome. 

We  have  no  wish  to  impose  the  severer  rules  of 
ancient  taste  on  those  with  whose  devotion  it  has  ceased 
to  harmonize ;  doubtless,  what  spiritual  writers  afiinn 
of  the  individual  soul  is  true  of  the  world  at  large, 
and  to  adopt  the  expression  of  S.  Catherine,  "  the  heart 
cannot  always  abide  in  one  mode  of  receiving  the 
Divine  visitation,  as  though  God  were  not  able  to  act 
through  other  means  and  in  other  ways."*  Nor  would 
we  overlook  the  fact  that  one  secret  of  the  Church's 
strength  lies  in  her  power  of  absorbing  into  herself  all 
popular  emotions,  and  pressing  them  into  the  service 
of  the  faith.  As  she  seized  on  the  military  enthusiasm 
of  a  semi-barbarous  age,  raising  out  of  it  the  beautiful 
«•  Dialogo,  cap.  71. 


302  THE  DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

fabric  of  Christian  chivalry,  and  at  a  later  period  over- 
powered the  relationship  of  the  schools  by  adapting  their 
system  into  her  own  scheme  of  Christian  philosophy, 
■ — and  as  in  each  succeeding  age  she  has  kept  her  mastery 
over  the  world  less  by  crushing  than  by  directing  those 
varying  forms  of  popular  enthusiasm  which  in  bodies 
separated  from  her  guidance  have  resulted  in  wild  and 
fanatic  excess, — so  there  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  she  did 
well  and  wisely  in  receiving  the  classical  renaissance  into 
her  bosom,  and  robbing  its  beauties  of  their  paganism 
by  identifying  them  with  the  associations  of  Christian 
worship. 

Against  this  principle  Savonarola's  zeal  was  in  no 
way  directed :  his  crusade  was  against  sensualism  in 
art,  wherever  it  might  be  found  existing;  but  we  can 
nowhere  find  any  condemnation  pronounced  by  him  of 
one  style  rather  than  of  another.  So  far  from  wishing 
to  stifle  the  study  and  imitation  of  nature  under  due 
restrictions,  or  from  attempting  to  stiffen  Christian  art 
into  any  given  shape  no  longer  in  harmony  with  the 
popular  taste  and  feeling,  we  know  that  the  disciples 
whom  he  formed  on  his  own  principles  did  not  any  of 
them  follow  the  mediaeval  models,  and  that  the  greatest 
of  them  all,  and  he  who  certainly  was  most  profoundly 
imbued  with  his  master's  teaching,  Fra  Bartolomeo,  is 
thought  in  his  boldness  of  conception  and  design  to 
follow  closely  on  the  steps  of  Michael  Angelo,  whom  he 
is  often  said  to  resemble.  No  doubt  the  eagle  eye  of  the 
Dominican  friar  saw  the  weak  point  of  the  rising  school, 
and  was  forewarned  of  the  inevitable  consequence  of  taking 
any  standard  of  human  beauty  for  the  ideals  of  divine 
forms.  If,  when  he  denounced  in  such  tremendous  terms 
the  "gross  materialism"  which  was  taking  the  place  of  the 
purely  spiritual  creations  of  elder  days,  and  so  often  set 
before  his  hearers,  in  discourses  whose  sublimity  has  never 
been  surpassed,  the  idea  of  Jesus  as  the  type  of  regener- 
ated humanity,  he  showed  little  mercy  on  genius  when 
defaced  by  what  he  deemed  the  evil  stamp  of  a  licentious 
character,  this  was  no  mediaeval  bigotry ;  although  we 
may  fancy  his  half-prophetic  soul  looking  on  through  the 


THE   RENAISSANCE.  303 

senturieg  that  followed,  beholding  the  naturalizing  of  art 
resulting  in  little  else  than  its  degradation.  Surely, 
without  risk  of  being  thought  to  advocate  the  imposition 
of  any  peculiar  views  as  a  rule  of  taste,  we  may  ask 
ourselves  whether  Christian  art  may  not  have  suffered 
something  when  it  consented  to  take  its  inspiration  from 
no  higher  source  than  that  which  moved  the  genius 
of  pagan  artists  in  the  delineation  of  pagan  divinities, 
when  nature  was  made  the  standard  of  ideals  that 
were  above  nature;  when  human  beauty  was  thought 
enough  to  constitute  a  model  for  the  Immaculate  Mother, 
whatever  were  its  character,  and  the  artist's  studio 
not  only  lost  its  almost  religious  character,  but  came 
to  be  looked  on  as  a  dangerous  school  for  morals. 
Nor  can  we  be  otherwise  than  struck  with  one  singular 
and  significant  fact  in  connection  with  this  subject. 
Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  undoubted  superiority 
of  the  modern  school  of  painters,  considered  simply  as 
artists,  the  religious  heart  of  Christendom  has  refused 
them  its  homage.  Their  exquisite  works  are  to  be 
oftener  found  in  our  galleries  and  dining-halls  than  in 
our  churches ;  of  all  the  incarnations  of  grace  and  beauty 
which  Rafaele  has  given  us  in  his  Madonnas  we  know 
not  of  one  which  has  ever  become  the  object  of  popular 
religious  veneration  j*  and  the  multitude,  so  true  in  the 


*  We  do  not  mean  to  assert  that  no  modern  picture  bas  become 
an  object  of  popular  veneration,  or  even  been  honoured  by  mira- 
culous graces.  More  instances  than  one  occur  to  our  minds  which 
would  be  sufficient  to  establish  the  contrary.  But  we  must  needs 
admit  that  where  this  bas  been  the  case  the  pictures  in  question 
share  neither  in  the  artistic  merits,  nor  in  the  religious  demerits  of 
the  great  masters.  One  in  particular  suggests  itself  to  the  writer's 
mind,  painted  but  a  few  years  since  by  a  very  neophyte  in  the  art 
of  fresco,  innocent  of  the  mysteries  of  chiaro  'scuro,  and  as  stiff  and 
unskilful  in  its  design  as  though  copied  from  an  early  mosaic ;  yet 
it  has  a  character  of  inexpressible  purity  and  sweetness,  or,  it  may 
be,  the  air  of  the  little  chapel  of  the  "Mater  Admirabilis"  is  so 
redolent  with  devotion  that  we  involuntarily  ascribe  something  of 
sanctity  to  the  character  of  the  painting.  It  is  in  the  convent  of 
the  Trinita  dei  Mor.ti  at  Rome  ;  and  the  numberless  graces  granted 
at  the  little  sanctuary  are  known  to  all  who  have  ever  visited  the 
Holy  City,  and  not  long  since  procured  from  the  Sovereign  Pontiff 


304  THE   DOMINICAN    ORDER. 

long  run  to  religious  instincts,  keep  faithful  to  those 
more  ancient  representations  which,  with  less  of  material 
beauty,  possess  the  higher  qualifications  of  devotion,  and 
have  been  honoured  by  those  miraculous  graces  which 
seem  withheld  from  the  highest  productions  of  human 
genius.  The  Madonnas  of  liafaele  will,  no  doubt,  com- 
mand the  homage  of  our  admiration  as  long  as  their  canvas 
holds  together;  but  they  will  never  draw  away  the  love  and 
worship  of  the  people  from  the  old  sanctuaries  where  the 
images  of  Mary  borrow  nothing  of  their  power  from  the 
skill  of  the  painter,  and  where  the  supernatural  beauty 
which  is  so  often  discernible  in  spite  of  the  rudeness  of 
their  design,  is  as  far  as  possible  removed  from  the  stamp 
of  sensualism; 

Our  readers  must  pardon  us  if  we  have  in  some  degree 
wandered  from  our  subject,  but  it  seemed  necessary,  to 
avoid  misconception  on  a  matter  where  it  is  so  easy  a 
thing  to  write  or  read  as  a  partisan.  Savonarola's  name 
is  so  closely  associated  with  the  advocacy  of  Christian 
design,  and  the  condemnation  of  paganism  in  art  and 
literature,  that  it  would  not  be  unnatural  for  a  eulogy 
of  his  principles  in  this  matter  to  be  taken  as  bearing 
on  some  particular  questions  warmly  contested  in  our 
own  day,  and  he  might  come  to  be  looked  on  as  having 
desired  to  crush  rather  than  to  spiritualize  art.  But  we 
may  remind  any  who  might  be  inclined  thus  to  interpret 
the  scene  which  we  have  described  on  the  Piazza  dei 
Signori,  that  the  man  who  thus  encouraged  his  fellow- 
citizens  to  sacrifice  without  mercy  "  all  vain  and  lascivious 
things  "  was  the  same  who,  in  reviving  primitive  observance 
at  S.  Mark's,  resolved  (in  the  words  of  Marchese)  "to 
promote  the  study  of  the  arts  of  design  which  he  con- 
sidered essential  to  his  grand  reform.  He  determined 
that  the  lay  brothers  should  devote  themselves  to  some 
of  the  arts  not  likely  to  distract  them,  such  as  sculpture, 
painting,  mason's  work,  writing,  &c."  And  no  fewer 
than  nine  of  the  first  artists  of  Florence  received  the 
religious   habit  from   his  hand,  and  were  eneouraged  by 

the  grant  of  a  golden    crown  to  the  picture,  together  with  man;? 
indulgences  to  those  who  offer  their  devotions  before  the  altar. 


SAVONAROLA'S   REFORMS.  305 

him  not  to  abandon  their  art,  but  to  consecrate  their 
genius  within  those  cloisters  rendered  already  glorious 
by  the  pencil  of  Angelico.  Even  in  the  Dominican  con- 
vents of  women  l.iis  influence  introduced  a  cultivation  of 
the  arts  of  design,  specially  in  that  of  S.  Catherine  at 
Florence,  founded  by  Camilla  Ruccellai,  where  painting 
and  modelling  were  studied  by  the  religious  at  his  sugges- 
tion, and  where  a  succession  of  excellent  artists  continued 
to  flourish  down  to  the  period  of  the  suppression  of  the 
religious  orders  in  the  last  century.  The  two  sisters 
Plautilla  and  Petronilla  Nelli  were  both  members  of 
this  community,  the  former  of  whom  was  a  paintress 
of  no  mean  celebrity,  while  the  latter  devoted  herself 
to  literature,  and  has  left,  among  other  works,  a  life  of 
Savonarola  still  preserved  in  manuscript.  Plautilla  Nelli 
is  compared  by  Vasari  to  the  celebrated  and  unfortunate 
Properzia  de'  Rossi,  whose  skill,  he  says,  was  rivalled  by 
that  of  the  Dominican  nun.  But  if  equal  in  genius, 
by  how  vast  a  distance  are  they  separated  in  the  story  of 
their  lives !  Properzia  died  a  victim  to  the  world's  most 
cruel  sorrow :  Plautilla  consecrated  her  glorious  gifts 
to  God's  service,  and  was  yet  more  admirable  for  the 
prudence  and  piety  with  which  she  governed  her  mon- 
astery, than  for  those  endowments  which  she  valued 
only  as  a  means  for  promoting  the  honour  of  her  Divine 
Spouse.* 

Savonarola's  whole  design  seems  to  have  been  the 
substitution  of  Christian  ideas,  as  objects  of  literature 
and  art,  for  those  which  were  in  themselves  essentially 
pagan.  He  was  never  foremost  in  that  popularization  of 
devotion  by  means  of  songs  and  pictures,  which  has  done 
such  admirable  service  to  religion  in  the  struggle  she  has 
waged  with  modern  heresy.  His  "  Laude,"  or  Divine 
Songs,  were  written  to  take  the  place  of  those  very 
Carnival  verses  of  a  licentious  character  which  he  had 
so  summarily  destroyed;  and  we  can  confidently  affirm 
that  none  who  read  those  exquisite  verses,  "  Jesus  to  the 

*  See  the  interesting  chapter  in  Marchese's  work  on  the  ''  Domi- 
nican Artists,"  which  is  devoted  to  the  female  painters  and  authors 
of  the  order. 

X 


306  THE.  DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

soul,"  and  others  of  equal  merit  recently  translated  and 
given  to  the  public  in  his  biography  by  Dr.  Madden,  can 
refuse  to  acknowledge  his  claims  to  true  poetic  feeling, 
even  though  he  placed  the  works  of  Petrarch  among  the 
" vanities"  of  his  bonfire.  The  fact  that  S.  Philip  Neri, 
closely  identified  as  he  was  in  after  years  with  what  we 
may  call  the  modern  popular  school,  passed  his  youth 
and  formed  his  first  religious  impressions  in  the  cloisters 
of  S.  Mark,  where  the  spirit  and  principles  of  Savonarola 
were  still  warmly  cherished  and  preserved,  would  be 
enough  to  show  that  those  principles  must  have  been 
wholly  distinct  from  the  mere  purism  of  antiquarian 
bigotry. 

The  political  career  of  Savonarola,  and  his  subsequent 
condemnation  by  the  Holy  See,  are  foreign,  to  the  pur- 
pose with  which  we  have  introduced  his  name  into  our 
present  sketch,  which  has  been  solely  as  an  illustration 
of  the  part  always  taken  by  the  Dominican  order  in  the 
cause  of  Christian  art.  His  story  has  continued  to  furnish 
matter  of  warm  and  often  of  bitter  controversy  even 
down  to  our  own  day,  and  it  is  not  the  least  singular 
fact  in  connection  with  the  great  republican  friar,  that, 
after  the  lapse  of  four  centuries,  his  name  is  still  able  to 
rouse  the  enthusiasm  both  of  friends  and  enemies,  so  that 
it  is  hard  for  either  to  reason  save  as  partisans.  Doubtless, 
the  purity  of  the  cause  to  which  he  first  devoted  his  noble 
energies,  and  the  heroic  constancy  with  which  he  struggled 
single-handed  to  stem  the  corruption  of  the  age,  must 
command  the  sympathy  of  every  generous  heart ;  and 
if,  during  his  closing  years,  the  excitement  of  political 
agitation  absorbed  those  powers  which  should  have 
been  spent  on  worthier  things,  and,  gradually  warping 
his  judgment,  and  (it  may  be)  marring  the  perfect 
equilibrium  of  his  mind,  led  him  into  the  fatal  error  of 
assuming  a  position  of  hostility  to  the  supreme  authority 
of  the  Church,  it  is  scarcely  surprising  that  the  sufferings 
by  which  he  expiated  his  fault,  and  the  character  of  his 
persecutors,  should  have  induced  many  to  forget  and 
almost  to  palliate  the  fault  itself.  It  is,  however,  one 
of  those  cases  in  which  an  indulgence  of  our  sympathies 


FALL   OP   SAVONAROLA.  307 

would  lead  us  astray;  the  fact  remains  uncontroverted, 
that  not  only  did  Savonarola  resist  that  supreme  authority, 
submission  to  which  is  the  primary  law  of  Christian 
obedience,  but  justified  his  resistance  in  words*  which 
bear  unmistakeable  evidence  of  an  appeal  to  interior 
inspiration  against  the  claims  of  obedience.  Such  a  pre- 
tence has  been  the  groundwork  of  all  heresy  and  unbelief; 
and,  feeling  this,  we  shrink  from  the  popular  canonization 
of  the  great  Florentine,  as  we  should  from  all  attempts 
to  substitute  sentiment  in  the  room  of  principle.  His 
career  and  his  misfortunes,  if  they  are  a  problem  in 
history,  afford  at  least  a  profound  lesson  in  morals,  and 
one  suited  to  no  age  better  than  to  our  own.  For  in  him 
we  see  a  soul  far  on  the  track  of  sanctity,  endowed  with 
the  highest  gifts  of  genius,  and  the  most  keen  and  exqui- 
site perceptions  of  truth,  ever  soaring  to  the  highest 
standard,  and  content  with  nothing  short  of  the  beauty 
or  the  truth  of  God,  thrown  out  of  its  course,  and  wrecked 
at  last,  when  it  came  to  identify  a  political  creed  with 
the  cause  of  Christianity,  and  when  the  love  of  truth 
became  insidiously  and  imperceptibly  blended  with  the 
fatal  love  of  self. 

We  hold  it  for  something  more  than  a  probability,  that 
the  highly  wrought  and  excitable  temperament  of  Savon- 
arola had  before  his  death  contracted  the  first  seeds  of 
mental  disease.  And  this  appears  in  a  certain  vein  of 
fanaticism,  and  extravagance,  and  an  assumed  tone  of 
authority,  only  comprehensible  in  one  of  his  greatness  of 
understanding  under  the  supposition  that  his  mind  was 
overstrained.  We  know  that  such  aberrations  of  genius 
and  imagination  are  not  rare;  yet  it  would  not  be  too 
bold    to    say    that,    although    such   a   supposition    must 


*  "I  act  in  coming  here  in  obedience  to  authority.  To  whom? 
To  the  Signoria  ?  You  wish  not  to  believe  me,  because,  as  you 
say,  I  am  not  bound  to  obey  them.  It  is,  then,  you  will  say,  t>) 
obey  your  prelates,  your  superiors.  But  nothing  of  the  kind  has 
been  directed  me  by  my  superiors.  Know,  then,  that  I  have 
ascended  the  pulpit  this  day  to  obey  Him,  who  is  the  Jh'date  of 
all  prelates,  the  Supreme  Pontiff  of  all  popes,  and  who  makes 
known  to  me  what  is  contrary  to  His  will,  and  in  nature  opposed 
to  it,  &c 

x2 


308  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

extenuate  much  in  his  conduct  which  otherwise  appears 
indefensible,  it  of  itself  presupposes  a  defective  humility, 
for  without  the  admission  into  the  soul  of  some  such 
error  in  principle,  or  the  yielding  to  some  interior  temp- 
tation, enthusiasm  can  never  gain  such  mastery  over  a 
mind  as  to  throw  it  off  its  balance.  Yet,  be  the  case  how 
it  may,  the  name  of  Jerome  Savonarola  will  always  be 
held  as  one  of  the  greatest  in  his  order,  and  the  memory 
of  his  errors  is  well-nigh  consumed  in  the  flames  of  his 
expiatory  sacrifice.  When  the  mob  of  the  Arrabbiati 
stormed  the  convent  of  S.  Mark  on  the  9th  of  April, 
1498,  and  the  partisans  of  Savonarola  prepared  for 
defence,  and  the  short  struggle  was  terminated  by  the 
voluntary  surrender  of  the  great  victim  into  the  hands  of 
his  enemies, — there  were  none  on  whom  the  catastrophe, 
which  closed  the  drama  of  his  life,  fell  with  so  over- 
whelming a  power  as  on  those  artists  of  Florence  who  had 
adopted  the  principles  of  his  reform.  Many  paid  for  their 
devotion  to  his  cause  with  their  life.  "  Others,"  says 
Marchese,  "  when  the  terrible  tragedy  was  ended,  aban- 
doned the  cultivation  of  those  arts  which  had  formed 
their  delight  during  the  lifetime  of  Fra  Girolamo. " 
Among  these  was  Baccio  della  Porta,  who  during  the 
attack  on  S.  Mark's  had  made  a  vow  that  should  Grod 
spare  his  life,  he  would  take  the  habit  of  S.  Dominic,  and 
end  his  days  in  the  cloister.  He  kept  his  word,  and 
when  the  dreadful  scene  of  the  23rd  of  May  was  over, 
and  Florence  (so  true  in  her  likeness  to  Athens)  had 
scattered  the  ashes  of  her  greatest  citizen  on  the  waters 
of  the  Arno,  he  surrendered  all  his  patrimony  to  his 
brother,  and,  renouncing  the  world,  and  as  he  thought, 
the  arts  also,  for  ever,  he  took  the  religious  vows  in  the 
convent  of  Prato.  But  the  genius  of  Baccio  della  Porta 
was  to  revive  in  a  more  splendid  form  in  Fra  Bartolomeo, 
a  name  destined  in  the  chronicles  of  Dominican  art  to  be 
second  only  in  celebrity  to  that  of  the  great  Angelico. 
At  first,  indeed,  the  bitterness  of  his  grief  rendered  the 
very  thought  of  resuming  his  pencil  odious  to  him.  But 
on  his  return  to  Florence  he  was  thrown  in  company 
with  Sanctes  Pagninus,  then  a  member  of  the  community 


FRA   BARTOLOMEO.  309 

of  Si  Mark's,  and  himself  a  disciple  and  admirer  of 
Savonarola.  This  celebrated  man,  of  whose  extraordinary- 
learning  we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  in  another  place, 
being  elected  prior  of  the  convent,  was  the  means  of 
inducing  Fra  Bartolomeo  to  resume  the  study  of  his  art, 
and  eventually  Pagninus  became  to  Porta  what  S. 
Antoninus  had  been  to  Angelico.  He  soon  attained  a 
reputation  which  justifies  Rosini  in  calling  him  u  the  star 
of  the  Florentine  school."  And  when,  in  1506,  the 
young  Rafaele  d'Urbino  arrived  at  Florence  to  study  the 
works  of  Michael  Angelo  and  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  he 
placed  himself  under  the  tuition  of  the  Dominican  painter, 
as  the  nearest  to  them  in  his  knowledge  of  colouring, 
while  Fra  Bartolomeo  at  the  same  time  learnt  from  his 
illustrious  pupil  a  more  perfect  theory  of  perspective.  The 
friendship  between  these  two  great  masters  forms  one  of 
the  most  refreshing  incidents  in  the  history  of  art ;  it  was 
free  from  the  least  shadow  of  a  professional  jealousy, 
and  more  than  one  picture  exists  on  which  their  pencils 
have  worked  together,  and  in  which  Rafaele,  even  when  at 
the  summit  of  his  glory,  did  not  disdain  to  finish  subjects 
commenced  by  Delia  Porta. 

His  after  career  found  him  competing  for  renown  by 
the  side  of  Buonarotti,  whom  perhaps  he  most  re- 
sembled in  the  grand  and  majestic  character  of  his 
designs  ;  and  living  as  he  did,  at  the  period  when  art 
had  reached  its  highest  glory,  and  the  rival  schools  of 
Venice,  Florence,  and  Borne,  were  producing  the  greatest 
artist3  the  world  has  ever  known,  his  name  ranks  among 
the  most  illustrious  of  them  all.  Nevertheless,  we  should 
err  did  we  seek  to  convey  the  idea  that  he  revived  the 
supernatural  school  of  painting  which  had  found  its 
matchless  representative  in  Angelico.  He  never,  indeed, 
departed  from  those  principles  which  he  had  learned 
from  his  first  master  Savonarola,  and  art  was  never 
debased  or  degraded  in  his  hands  ;  but  we  miss  the 
mystic  spirituality  of  his  predecessor,  although  there  is 
ample  evidence  that  Bartolomeo  ever  placed  before  his 
eyes  the  life  of  the  saintly  artist  as  his  guide  and  model. 
He  was  himself  a  true  and  excellent  religious.      Vasari 


310  THE  DOMINICAN  ORDER. 

tells  us  that  "  he  arrived  at  length  at  the  wished-for 
power  of  accompanying  the  labour  of  his  hands  with  the 
uninterrupted  contemplation  of  death."  He  was  also, 
like  so  many  other  of  the  pupils  of  Savonarola,  a  poet 
and  a  musician,  and  some  of  his  pious  verses  have 
been  found  traced  on  the  back  of  his  pictures  in  his 
own  hand.  He  died  when  only  forty-eight,  having  in  the 
brief  period  of  seventeen  years  produced  a  marvellous 
number  of  works,  the  list  of  which  is  given  by  Marchese. 
The  close  friendship  existing  between  him  and  Rafaele 
may  possibly  have  had  some  share  in  bringing  about, 
what  Marchese  calls  "  the  most  splendid  religious  re- 
habilitation of  Savonarola — the  most  luminous  proof  of 
his  innocence,  and  the  most  convincing  proof  of  the 
perfidy  of  his  persecutors."  We  allude  to  the  intro- 
duction of  the  great  reformer  in  the  grandest  work  of 
Rafaele's  genius — the  "  Disputation  on  the  B.  Sacra- 
ment," where  he  is  painted  among  the  doctors  of  the 
Church,  the  face  being,  as  it  is  thought,  an  exact  copy 
of  the  likeness  of  Fra  Girolamo,  painted  by  Delia  Porta 
many  years  before.  This  magnificent  work  was  executed 
only  ten  years  after  the  death  of  the  friar  ;  it  was  under- 
taken by  the  command  of  Julius  II.,  and  adorned  the 
.  very  halls  of  the  Pontifical  palace,  and  may  be  considered 
as  offering  almost  as  complete  a  vindication  of  his  name 
from  the  aspersions  of  his  enemies  as  that  given  by  Paul 
III.,  who  hesitated  not  to  declare  "  that  he  should  regard 
that  man  as  heretical  who  dared  to  accuse  Savonarola 
of  heresy." 

But  we  have  already  gone  far  beyond  our  limits  in 
treating  of  the  connection  of  the  order  with  religious 
art,  and  must  hasten  to  bring  this  chapter  to  a  close. 
There  is  a  crowd  of  illustrious  names  which  might  be 
given  in  illustration  of  the  fact  that  the  Dominican  order 
has  never  relinquished  its  principle  of  cultivating  and 
sanctifying  the  imaginative  arts,  as  means  of  influencing 
the  popular  heart,  and  guiding  men's  minds  to  God  by 
possessing  itself  of  every  avenue  by  which  to  reach  them. 
Some  of  these  were  simple  lay-brothers  ;  others,  like 
Ignatius  Dante  (of  the  family  of  the  poet)  attained   the 


BARTHOLOMEW   OP   THE  MARTYRS  AND  PITJ     IV.   311 

highest  ecclesiastical  dignities.  And  let  it  be  remem- 
bered, that  the  art  encouraged  by  the  Dominican  painters 
and  sculptors  has  always  been  essentially  Christian  ;  and 
that  Savonarola's  denunciations  against  the  corruptions 
of  heathenism  in  art  and  literature  have  been  faithfully 
re-echoed  by  other  champions  of  Christian  purity.  In 
the  succeeding  age  the  classic  imitators  had  it  their 
own  way  ;  the  world,  as  we  know,  was  flooded  with 
pagan  literature,  and  the  beautiful  monuments  of  the 
ages  of  faith  were,  in  too  many  cases,  swept  away  to 
make  room  for  clumsy  imitations  of  heathenism.  Popes 
and  cardinals  vied  with  one  another  in  their  enthusiastic 
patronage  of  brick  and  mortar,  and  in  the  bad  taste 
with  which  they  used  them ;  but  even  at  the  court  of 
Pius  IV.,  a  Dominican  was  found  to  lift  his  voice  against 
the  prevailing  corruptions.  The  Pontiff  was  himself 
a  great  encourager  of  the  classical  rennaissance  then  in 
fashion.  He  was  a  great  builder,  and  a  patron  of 
architects  and  men  of  taste.  In  the  summer  of  1561, 
however,  he  was  entertaining  one  who  seemed  insensible 
to  all  which  he  beheld  ;  it  could  not  be  stupidity,  for 
Bartholomew  of  the  Martyrs,  the  primate  of  Portugal, 
was  not  a  stupid  man  ;  nevertheless,  when  the  new 
buildings  at  the  Belvidere  were  submitted  to  his  view,  he 
only  shrugged  his  shouldars.  "  What  do  you  think  of 
the  Belvidere,  my  lord  of  Braga  ?"  inquired  the  Pope. 
"  It  is  for  me  to  admire  and  not  to  judge,"  was  the  reply. 
"  Your  excellency,  however,  intends  adding  to  the  epis- 
copal palace  of  Braga ;  I  am  told  it  is  in  the  old  style, 
quite  unsuitable  to  our  modern  taste."  "  Your  holiness 
is  probably  aware  that  I  have  no  money  for  building." 
"  Come,  I  am  determined  to  know  your  opinion  of  my 
architect ;  I  will  know  what  you  think  of  the  Belvidere 
and  its  statues  :  they  at  least  are  full  of  merit."  "  Since 
your  Holiness  commands  me  to  say  what  I  think" 
at  length  replied  the  imperturbable  archbishop,  "  1 
think  the  Son  of  God  will  one  day  come  to  burn  up 
palaces  such  as  these  :  I  think  they  are  quite  worthy 
of  their  architect,  but  not  of  your  holiness,  whom  God 
has  placed  in  the  Church  to  rear  up   lively  temples  for 


312  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

Himself.  As  to  the  paintings,  I  care  for  those  only 
which  trace  the  image  of  God  on  the  souls  of  the  faithful : 
this,  Holy  Father,  is  what  I  think."  It  was  certainly  a 
fair  specimen  of  Dominican  freedom  of  speech,  but  the 
words  of  Bartholomew  are  every  way  remarkable.  So  too 
was  the  Pope's  reply.  "  I  see  how  it  is, — you  and 
Charles  Borromeo  have  been  together;  you  are  just  a  pair; 
he  cares  no  more  for  my  statues  than  you  do,  and  I  will 
answer  for  it  when  he  gets  to  Milan,  his  palace  will  be  the 
counterpart  of  yours." 

The  strictures  of  two  such  men  as  Bartholomew  and 
S.  Charles  were  doubtless  levelled,  not  merely  at  the 
expense  but  also  at  the  character  of  these  decorations. 
Bartholomew  could  scarcely  have  been  insensible  to  the 
claims  of  that  religious  art,  the  appreciation  of  which 
was  hereditary  in  his  order ;  his  censures  were  not 
directed  against  the  frescoes  of  Angelico,  at  that  moment 
rotting  on  the  walls  of  their  neglected  chapel,  but  rather 
against  that  school  of  restored  paganism  which  has  not 
hesitated  to  place  in  the  basilica  of  S.  Peter's,  and  on 
the  very  tombs  of  the  Pontiffs,  statues  which  modern 
refinement  has  been  compelled  to  veil.  Nevertheless, 
the  spirit  of  the  age  was  then  too  strong  to  be  resisted. 
For  three  centuries  art  was  well-nigh  lost  to  the  cause 
of  religion,  and,  like  all  creatures  of  his  imagination 
when  emancipated  from  the  control  of  the  faith,  it  became 
only  the  minister  of  sensuality.  Yet  there  are  indi- 
cations that  even  during  this  period,  the  tie  between 
the  Dominican  order  and  the  Christian  use  of  art  was 
never  wholly  severed.  Besides  those  architects  and 
sculptors  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries, 
an  account  of  whom  will  be  found  in  the  work  of  Padre 
Marchese,  we  find  incidental  mention  of  the  cultivation 
of  painting  among  some  of  the  South  American  mission- 
aries, and  that  for  a  purpose  purely  religious.  Gonzalo 
Lucero,  provincial  of  Mexico  in  1550,  a  man  possessed  ot 
much  of  the  peculiar  genius  of  his  order,  is  spoken  of  as 
painting  a  series  of  all  the  chief  mysteries  of  the  faith, 
and  preaching  from  them  to  the  people,  thus  carrying 
out  the  old  principle  of  Passavanti,  that  M  pictures  were 


ITS  DISTINGUISHED  ARTISTS.  313 

the  books  of  the  unlettered."     And  the  same  is  told  us 
of  other  and  later  missionaries  in  the  same  field. 

It  cannot,  indeed,  be  pretended  that  all  the  Dominican 
artists  followed  in  the  steps  of  Angelico,  or  that  the 
genius  of  such  men  as  Marcillat  could  be  claimed  as 
doing  much  credit  to  their  order.  But  these  were  ex- 
ceptions ;  in  general  the  character  of  the  painters,  equally 
with  that  of  their  paintings,  was  devout  and  spiritual. 
Out  of  many  names  we  may  select  that  of  Fra  Paolino 
Signoraccio,  who,  when  a  young  novice  in  the  convent  of 
Prato,  evinced  so  much  artistic  talent  as  to  induce  his 
superiors  to  place  him  as  a  pupil  under  Fra  Bartolomeo. 
Almost  his  first  essay  in  modelling  was  made  on  the  clay 
figures  for  the  Christmas  crib  of  S.  Magdalene's  hospital, 
in  whose  books  there  occurs  an  entry  of  the  said  figures 
"made  by  little  Paul  of  Pistoja,"  with  the  memorandum 
that  they  are  already  hard,  "for  he  made  three  years 
before  and  painted  them,  to  the  honour  of  God,  S.  Domi- 
nic, and  S.  Magdalen."  Little  Paul,  as  he  is  here  called, 
was  but  thirteen  when  he  commenced  his  career  as  an 
artist.  He  followed  the  style  of  his  master,  Fra  Barto- 
lomeo, and  if  he  was  inferior  to  him  in  boldness  and 
originality  of  design,  he  is  acknowleged  to  have  excelled 
him  in  the  devotion  and  "  celestial  beauty"  of  his  repre- 
sentations of  the  Madonna.  In  fact,  Paolino  was  an 
excellent  and  worthy  religious,  "  simple,  upright,  devout, 
modest,  and  obedient."*  He  was  the  friend  of  S.  Cathe- 
rine de  Ricci,  and  of  Plautilla  Nelli,  and  he  ever  aimed  at 
rendering  his  talents  subservient  to  the  cause  of  religion. 

Yet  more  celebrated  in  his  own  peculiar  art  was 
Damian  of  Bergamo,  the  renowned  worker  in  wood 
mosaic,  or,  as  it  is  technically  called,  tarsia.  His 
extraordinary  works  far  surpassed  anything  of  the  kind 
which  had  been  hitherto  seen,  and  are  still  the  wonder 
of  all  who  beheld  them,  They  excited  the  incredulous 
admiration  of  Charles  V.,  who,  on  his  visit  to  the  friars' 
church  at  Bologna,  could  not  be  led  to  believe  that  what 
he  saw  was  i  eally  worked  in  wood,  till  he  had  convinced 
himself  by  unsheathing  his  dagger  and  chipping  off  a 
x-  RazzL 


314  THE  DOMINICAN  ORDER. 

portion  of  the  work.  He  gave  his  imperial  testimony  to 
the  singular  merits  of  the  artist,  by  visiting  him  in  his 
humble  cell.  It  was  on  that  occasion  that  Damian  gave 
the  greatest  monarch  in  Christendom  a  memorable  lesson 
of  independence.  The  emperor  was  followed  by  Alfonso 
of  Este,  the  Duke  of  Ferrara,  but  Damian  refused  him 
entrance :  the  duke's  officers  had  been  guilty  of  some 
unjust  and  tyrannical  impositions,  and  the  sturdy  lay 
brother  had  determined  he  should  never  see  his  works 
till  he  had  done  him  justice.  His  independence  of 
character,  however,  had  nothing  in  it  that  was  morose; 
he  was  the  favourite  of  his  convent,  and  not  only  a  man 
of  genius,  but  a  holy  and  excellent  religious. 

We  have  mentioned  the  name  of  Ignatius  Dante, 
whose  celebrity  was  perhaps  rather  as  a  mathematician 
and  an  engineer,  than  as  an  artist.  The  singular  and 
beautiful  maps  still  to  be  seen  in  the  galleries  of  the 
Vatican,  however,  evince  no  inconsiderable  degree  of 
taste,  as  well  as  of  science.  He  was  appointed  to 
superintend  the  works  at  the  Vatican  under  the  ponti- 
ficate of  Gregory  XIII.,  and  his  influence  was  of  the 
happiest  kind,  "for  to  his  knowledge  of  art,"  we  are 
told,  "he  added  the  most  unblemished  morality."  The 
same  may  be  said  of  Fra  Portigiani,  the  architect,  and 
the  celebrated  worker  in  bronze,  whose  piety  and  devotion 
have  found  honorable  records  in  the  annals  of  his 
convent  of  S.  Mark. 

Paganelli,  another  engineering  genius  of  the  order, 
and  architect  to  Paul  V.,  was  held  in  equally  great 
repute  for  his  skill  in  the  sacred  sciences;  and,  as 
became  a  member  of  the  order,  ever  zealous  for  the 
purity  of  ecclesiastical  discipline,  was  one  of  the  congre- 
gation appointed  by  the  authority  of  the  council  of 
Trent,  for  the  reformation  of  the  clergy. 

The  art  of  military  defence  perhaps  scarcely  merits  to 
be  included  in  our  present  subject ;  and  that  it  should 
have  found  any  to  cultivate  it  among  the  ranks  of  the 
Dominicans  may  possibly  excite  our  reader's  surprise. 
But  the  friars  were  the  men  of  their  age :  they  were  ever 
ready  to  turn  their  talent  in  whatever  direction  it  was 


ITS   DISTINGUISHED   ARTISTS.  315 

noeded;  and  so,  when  the  republic  of  Genoa  was  strain- 
ing every  nerve  to  defend  its  liberties  against  the  tyranny 
of  Charles  Emmanuel  of  Savoy,  the  enthusiastic  citizens, 
who  toiled  day  and  night  at  the  walls,  did  not  appeal  in 
vain  to  the  patriotism  of  Fra  Yincengo  Maculano,  the 
most  experienced  engineer  of  the  day,  who  filled  the 
office  of  Inquisitor  in  the  Genoese  capital.  After  ex- 
hausting every  resource  of  his  genius  on  the  military 
defence  of  Genoa,  Maculano  was  called  to  Rome,  where 
he  rose  to  high  repute  as  a  theologian,  and  became 
master  of  the  Sacred  Palace.  His  skill  as  a  military 
engineer,  however,  was  destined  to  be  once  more  exerted, 
and  in  a  cause  that  was  not  unworthy  his  sacred  pro- 
fession. .  He  presided  over  the  works  raised  at  Malta  in 
1640,  when  the  island  was  threatened  by  the  Turks,  and 
on  his  return  to  Rome  was  created  cardinal  and  arch- 
bishop of  Benevento  by  Urban  VIII.  Marchese  assures 
us  that  on  two  occasions  he  was  within  a  single  vote  of 
being  raised  to  the  pontificate,  of  which  dignity  his 
virtues  and  talents  rendered  him  not  unworthy. 

We  may  add,  that  even  in  our  own  day  the  arts  still 
find  those  who  cherish  them  in  a  truly  Christian  spirit, 
in  the  ranks  of  the  Friars  Preachers.  The  great  church 
of  Bologna,  which  contains  the  shrine  of  the  holy  founder 
of  the  order,  has  not  long  since  been  restored  in  excellent 
taste  under  the  direction  of  one  of  the  lay  brothers,  Fra 
Girolamo  Bianchedi  of  Faenza,  who  also  presided  over 
the  restoration  of  the  Minerva  in  Rome.  This  church, 
the  head-quarters  of  the  order,  originally  raised  by  two 
Florentine  Dominicans,  presents  one  of  the  very  few 
remains  of  the  earlier  ecclesiastical  style  still  existing  in 
that  city.  Its  restoration  is  but  partial;  and  Girolamo 
died  a  victim,  it  is  said,  to  the  terrors  of  the  late  revo- 
lution, before  seeing  the  completion  of  his  design.  He 
did  not  live  to  witness  what  was  a  proud  day  for  his 
order;  when,  on  the  feast  of  S.  Dominic  1855,  the  church 
was  reopened  by  the  pope  in  person,  and  the  relicts  of 
S.  Catherine,  which  had  lain  since  her  death  in  the 
Rosary  chapel,  were  solemnly  removed  to  the  high  altar, 
under   which  they  now  repose.     A  proud  day,  we  have 


316  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

said,  for  the  order ;  for  on  the  evening  of  that  day  tho^e 
streets,  which  four  centuries  since  had  been  trodden  by 
the  feet  of  the  seraphic  saint  of  Siena,  were  filled  with 
the  lines  of  an  immense  and  splendid  procession,  in  the 
midst  of  which  her  relicts,  borne  in  a  silver  urn  and 
canopied  with  flowers,  were  shown  for  the  veneration  of 
the  enthusiastic  multitudes.  The  skill  of  Fra  Girolamo, 
who  has  thus  enjoyed  the  happiness  of  restoring  the  two 
churches  of  his  order  which  contain  the  shrines  of  its 
two  greatest  saints,  and  the  principles  on  which  he 
conducted  his  restoration,  which  are  essentially  based  on 
the  rules  of  Christian  art,  have  received  the  sanction  of 
his  present  Holiness,  who,  when  bishop  of  Imola,  employed 
the  Dominican  artist  in  the  restoration  of  his  own  cathe- 
dral in  that  city.  We  might  mention  other  indications 
that  the  artistic  spirit  of  the  order  still  survives  among  us, 
but  we  have  already  exceeded  our  limits.  Yet  we  cannot 
resist  concluding  this  chapter  in  the  words  of  the  writer 
so  often  quoted  : — "  The  mission  of  our  order,"  says  Mar- 
chese,  "is  to  infuse  new  life  into  hearts  that  have  been 
weakened  by  the  corrupt  influences  of  the  times ;  to 
consecrate  our  energies  to  the  amelioration  of  the  people ; 
and  to  prove  that  religion,  however  inflexibly  opposed  to 
a  false  and  spurious  progress,  is,  nevertheless,  the  truest 
protectress  of  sound  knowledge,  and  the  most  zealous 
patroness  of  national  prosperity.  Nor  should  we  forget 
the  arts,  for  it  lies  on  us  to  inspire  them  with  noble  and 
sublime  sentiments,  and  associate  them  with  all  that 
is  sanctified  by  religion.  Let  him,  therefore,  who  cannot 
speak  from  the  pulpit,  or  the  professor's  chair,  speak 
with  the  chisel,  or  the  pencil,  but  let  us  all  speak  a 
noble  and  a  holy  language.  Never  let  us  forget  that  we 
saved  the  arts  in  the  days  of  barbaric  devastation:  and 
that  we  sheltered  and  cherished  them  in  the  times  of  the 
renaissance.  Never  let  us  forget  that  we  warmed  them 
with  the  breath  of  our  hearts,  and  that  we  educated  them 
for  the  honour  and  glory  of  Christianity.  Thus  shall  we 
convince  men  that  we  comprehend  the  full  sublimity  of 
our  vocation  ;  and  for  every  benefit  we  bestow  on  the  peo- 
ple, we  shall  receive  the  benedictions  of  grateful  hearts." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Close  of  the  15th  century.  Discovery  of  America.  First  Dominican 
missions  in  the  New  World.  Bartholomew  de  Las  Casas.  Jeromo 
Loaysa.     S.  Louis  Bertrand.    The  Philippine  Islands. 

As  we  draw  on  to  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  and  the 
opening  of  the  sixteenth  century  we  are  conscious  of  the 
approach  of  a  great  change ;  the  infancy  of  the  world  is 
over,  and  its  education  complete;  will,  understanding, 
and  imagination,  have  all  come  to  maturity  ;  the  child  has 
become  a  man,  and  is  about  to  assert  its  independence, 
and  to  enter  on  a  career  which  may  display  its  energies 
to  the  full.  Two  great  discoveries  mark  the  commence- 
ment of  this  singular  era,  and  in  no  small  degree  help 
on  the  designs  of  Providence:  Columbus  gives  a  new 
world  to  European  enterprise  by  the  discovery  of  Ame- 
rica, and  the  invention  of  printing  accomplishes  the 
greatest  social  revolution  the  world  has  ever  known  : 
henceforth  two  thirds  of  mankind  will  be  governed  by 
the  press.  The  Dominicans  had  hitherto  claimed  their 
share  in  each  new  influence  to  which  the  world  had  been 
subjected  since  the  foundation  of  their  order,  and  it  was 
not  to  be  supposed  that  they  could  remain  insensible  to 
the  new  field  thrown  open  to  their  apostolic  labours  by 
the  discovery  of  America,  or  to  the  demand  made  on 
them  in  their  character  of  a  teaching  order  by  the 
revival  of  literature.  The  little  flotilla  which  sailed  from 
Europe  on  the  3rd  of  August,  1492,  and  was  destined  to 
gain  a  new  world  to  Christendom,  bore  on  the  decks  of 
its  admiral's  vessel  three  friars,  the  representatives  of 
their  respective  orders — a  Franciscan,  a  Dominican,  and 
F.  Solorzano  of  the  order  of  Mercy,  who  acted  as  con- 
fessor to  Columbus,  and  almoner  to  his  fleet.  The  lands 
which  the  Genoese  adventurer  added  to  the  empire  of 
Spain,  these  three  mendicant  friars  may  be  said  to  have 


318  THE    DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

taken  possession  of  in  the  name  of  Christ ;  and  the  part 
which  succeeding  brethren  of  those  three  orders  were  to 
play  on  the  soil  of  the  newly  discovered  continent,  made 
the  circumstance  of  their  presence  at  that  first  landing  a 
peculiarly  appropriate  accident.  In  fact,  Columbus  owed 
not  a  little  of  his  success  in  gaining  the  consent  and 
protection  of  Ferdinand,  to  the  orders  of  S.  Francis  and 
S.  Dominic.  His  two  great  advocates  at  the  court  of 
Spain  were  the  Franciscan,  John  Perez  de  Marchena, 
and  Diego  Deza,  Dominican  professor  of  theology  at  the 
university  of  Salamanca;  and  Remesal  does  not  hesitate 
to  say,  that  Spain  in  a  great  measure  owed  the  discovery 
of  her  new  empire  to  F.  Diego.  Marchena  led  a  com- 
pany of  missionaries  of  his  order  to  Haiti  in  the 
following  year,  and  the  little  hut  which  he  erected  at 
Isabella,  and  where  he  celebrated  Mass  directly  on  his 
landing,  was  the  first  Christian  church  erected  by  the 
Spaniards  in  America.  Diego  did  not  himself  enter  on 
the  apostolate  of  the  new  world,  but  his  nephew,  Peter 
Deza,  was  the  first  archbishon  of  Xaragua,  and  primate 
of  the  American  churches. 

It  is  melancholy  to  read  the  solemn  terms  in  which 
that  Alexandrian  bull  is  couched  which  delivers  the  pro- 
vinces of  the  new  world  to  the  keeping  of  the  kings  of 
Spain,  and  charges  them  with  the  care  of  the  souls  of 
their  inhabitants,  and  their  instruction  in  the  Christian 
faith  "  by  the  memory  of  their  baptism,  and  by  the  bowels 
of  mercy  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  and  then  to  remem- 
ber that  only  ten  years  after  the  publication  of  that  bull 
the  atrocities  committed  by  the  Spanish  conquerors  had 
attained  their  height,  and  cruelty  had  already  been  formed 
into  a  system  which  the  indignant  and  courageous  remon- 
strances of  the  Christian  missionaries  were  unable  to 
suppress.  Queen  Isabella  died  in  1504;  her  death  was, 
in  the  words  of  Las  Casas,  the  signal  for  the  destruction 
of  the  aborigines,  and  her  last  testament  which  gives  such 
evidence  of  the  deep  impression  made  on  her  soul  by  the 
Papal  charge  of  Alexander  VI.  was  scarcely  written  ere 
it  was  violated.  Six  years  afterwards  we  find  the  first 
regular    mission    opened    in    America     by    the     Friars 


BARTHOLOMEW  DE  LAS  CASAS.  319 

Preachers,  and  in  the  same  year  Bartholomew  de  Las 
Casas  sang  at  Vega  the  first  high  mass  which  had  been 
heard  in  the  new  world.  It  was  also  his  own  first  mass, 
and  he  was  then  a  simple  secular  priest ;  already  full  of 
enthusiastic  kindness  for  the  natives,  whose  language  he 
had  learnt  with  a  view  of  devoting  his  life  to  their  ser- 
vice and  conversion.  The  celebration  of  that  high  mass 
of  Bartholomew  would  form  no  bad  subject  as  an  historic 
picture.  By  command  of  Diego  Columbus  it  was  accom- 
panied with  the  greatest  pomp.  "Everyone  then  at  La 
Vega,"  says  Herrera,  "  assisted  at  it,  and  a  vast  number 
of  the  inhabitants  from  other  parts  of  the  island  were  also 
present,  it  being  then  the  season  of  gold-finding.  They 
came  from  all  quarters  with  quantities  of  the  precious 
metal  as  offerings  to  the  new  celebrant,  who  gave  them 
all  to  his  godfather  in  the  sacred  ceremony,  keeping  only 
a  few  pieces  better  cast  than  others."  Well,  indeed, 
might  the  simple  and  trustful  people  of  America  crowd 
instinctively  around  their  future  protector  and  offer  him 
their  gratuitous  homage.  It  was  not  long  before  Bar- 
tholomew, already  disposed  to  compassionate  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  Indians,  was  induced,  on  a  closer  knowledge 
of  the  cruelties  practised  on  them,  to  embrace  their  cause 
as  his  own ;  and,  giving  up  the  employments  he  had  at 
first  accepted  under  the  viceroy  of  Hispaniola,  he  resolved 
to  do  and  suffer  anything  in  order  to  deliver  the  victims 
of  his  countrymen's  cruelty  from  the  tyranny  under  which 
they  languished. 

In  this  general  resolve  he  was  warmly  encouraged  by 
the  Dominican  missionaries,  under  Peter  of  Cordova,  who 
had  scarcely  arrived  at  Haiti  before  they  began  their 
bold  and  uncompromising  protests  against  the  injustice 
and  rapacity  of  the  Spaniards.  Their  determined  and 
dogged  assertion  of  evangelic  truth  soon  raised  a  storm  ; 
before  many  months  Antonio  de  Montesino,  the  chief 
orator  in  the  defence  of  the  Indians,  was  sent  back  to 
Spain  to  plead  their  cause  before  King  Ferdinand ;  and 
though  little  real  fruit  came  of  the  affair,  the  successful 
advocacy  of  the  natives  before  the  Court  at  Burgos,  was 
a  triumph   >f  which  their  generous  protectors  might  well 


320  THE   DOMINICAN    ORDER. 

be  proud.  It  was  soon  evident  that  if  the  missionaries 
would  have  free  room  for  their  labours,  they  must  act 
independently  of  the  Spanish  authorities,  and  preach  the 
cross  in  provinces  where  the  Spaniards  had  as  yet  made 
no  settlements,  and  created  no  prejudice  against  the 
name  of  Christian;  and  accordingly,  in  the  year  1512, 
those  missions  were  commenced  on  the  continent  of 
America,  which  gained  so  many  a  martyr  to  the  order  oi 
Preachers,  and  so  many  a  soul  to  the  faith  of  Christ. 
And  here  again  we  have  occasion  to  admire  the  admirable 
spirit  of  unity  which  marked  the  missionary  labours  of 
the  orders  of  S.  Francis  and  S.  Dominic.  When  in  1516 
Las  Casas  had  so  far  interested  the  Spanish  regency  in 
the  cause  to  which  he  had  devoted  himself,  that  they  had 
nominated  him  Protector  General  of  the  Indians,  and 
had  induced  Ximenes,  then  at  the  head  of  affairs,  to  enter 
warmly  into  his  views,  a  great  impulse  was  given  to  the 
zeal  of  the  various  religious  orders;  and  F.  llemi,  a 
Franciscan  of  great  interprise  and  courage,  who  had 
lately  returned  to  Europe  after  many  years  spent  among 
the  infidels,  set  himself  to  organize  a  fresh  body  of 
labourers  whom  he  collected  from  all  countries,  and  with 
them  prepared  to  set  out  a  second  time  for  the  scene  of  his 
former  missions.  They  were  fourteen  in  all :  among  them 
it  is  interesting  to  read  the  name  of  F.  Remigius  Stuart, 
a  member  of  our  own  royal  and  unfortunate  house.  He 
was  the  brother  of  King  James  IV.  of  Scotland,  and  not 
less  distinguished  for  his  religious  zeal  than  for  his  illus- 
trious birth.  When  the  little  company  of  Franciscans 
were  ready  to  sail,  Ximenes  added  several  Dominicans, 
who  joined  the  body,  and  acknowledged  Eemi  as  their 
leader  and  superior. 

In  1518,  the  conquest  of  M<  xico  was  undertaken  by 
Fernando  Cortez,  and  the  first  missionaries  who  entered 
on  this  new  field  were  of  the  order  of  mercy.  They  were, 
soon  followed  by  the  Franciscans,  under  the  celebrated 
Martin  de  Valencia,  the  blessed  Martin,  as  he  is 
deservedly  called,  who,  as  Wadding  tells  us,  began  to 
preach  the  same  year  that  Luther  commenced  spreading 
his  doctrines  in  Germany;  "so  that  it  would  seem  as  if 


BARTHOLOMEW   DE   LAS   CASAS.  321 

the  providence  of  God  had  disposed  that  one  Martin 
should  repair,  by  the  conversion  of  new  kingdoms,  the 
loss  caused  to  the  Church  by  the  corruptions  of  another 
Martin."  But  very  soon  after  the  country  had  fallen 
under  the  Spanish  dominion  the  Dominicans  were  sent 
thither  by  the  command  of  Charles  V.,  and  we  again  read 
that  "  they  were  received  by  the  Franciscans  with  no  less 
charity  than  joy,  and  abode  with  them  for  the  space  of 
three  months,  until  their  own  habitations  had  been  pre- 
pared."* They  were  twelve  in  number,  and  were  destined 
eventually  to  become  the  founders  of  those  provinces  of 
,  Oaxaca  and  Guatemala,  whose  chronicles  rival  in  roman- 
tic and  pathetic  interest  anything  which  one  can  find  in 
the  fabulous  pages  of  Uretta. 

The  names  of  Dominic  de  Betancos,  the  founder  of 
more  than  a  hundred  convents,  and  of  his  deacon  and 
disciple,  Gonsalvo  Lucero,  suggest  tales  of  such  surpass- 
ing beauty  that,  did  we  once  enter  on  their  narration  we 
should  be  beguiled  into  a  prolixity  which  our  limits 
forbid.  It  was  a  hard  struggle  at  first:  at  one  time 
Dominic  was  left  the  only  priest  of  his  order  in  Mexico, 
the  others  had  died,  or  been  forced  to  return  to  Spain ; 
and  one  of  the  charming  tales  which  occur  in  the  life  of 
Lucero  shows  him  to  us  the  only  inhabitant  of  his  con- 
vent, having  on  his  shoulders  the  apostolic  care  of  a  vast 
district,  and  the  maintenance  of  religious  rule  and  dis- 
cipline, which  spite  of  every  difficulty  he  never  abandoned. 
But  this  did  not  last  long:  other  missionaries  soon 
poured  into  America  in  great  numbers,  owing  to  the 
edict  of  the  emperor  that  no  vessel  was  to  leave  Spain 
without  carrying  a  certain  number  of  religious  on  board, 
and  such  was  the  zeal  and  sanctity  of  Betancos,  that 
crowds  of  young  Castilians  who  had  left  their  native  land 
in  search  of  riches  or  adventures,  laid  aside  their  dreams 
of  worldly  advancement,  and  received  the  habit  of  religion 
at  his  hands.  Meanwhile  Las  Casas  was  toiling  at  a 
fruitless  cost.  Again  and  again  did  he  return  to  Europe 
to  plead  his  cause,  and  to  lay  new  schemes  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  natives  before  the  royal  council.  His  first 
x-Fontaua,  Monumenta  Domenicana. 
Y 


322  THE  DOMINICAN  ORDER. 

plan,   whose   consequences,   little   forseen   by   its    author, 
have  brought  great  and  undeserved  obloquy  on  his  name, 
was  to  increase  the  importation  of  the  African  negroes  to 
supply  the  place  of  the  native  Americans,  whose  delicate 
and   feeble  constitution   unfitted  them  for  severe  labour. 
This  plan  did  not  originate  with  Las  Casas ;  it  had  been 
adopted    from   the   commencement   of  the   century.      To 
use  the  words  of  a  well-known  Protestant  historian,*  "  It 
was   a   suggestion   of  humanity,    however  mistaken;  and 
considering   the   circumstances   under   which  it  occurred, 
and    the  age,    it   may  well   be  forgiven    in    Las    Casas, 
especially,  inasmuch  as,   when  more  enlightened,  he,  with 
deep   humiliation,    confesses   his  regret  at  having  counte- 
nanced the  measure,  since,  to  use   his   own  words,   'the 
same  law  applies  equally  to  the  negro  as  to  the  Indian.'  " 
— W    The   next   scheme  was  bolder,  and  most  characteristic 
of  Bartholomew's  ardent  and  imaginative  mind.     It  was 
to  obtain  the  grant  of  a  vast  district  and  commence  a 
Christian  colony,  independent  of  the  military  authorities, 
whose   atrocities  had  made  the  very  name   of  European 
hateful  to  the  natives.     He  had  the  idea  that  by  adopt- 
ing a  different  dress,  which   was   to   be   white   with  the 
cross   of  Calatrava,    he   might   persuade  the   Indians   to 
believe  that  the  new  colonists  were  of  a  different  nation 
from  their  persecutors.     Fifty  Dominicans  were  to  accom- 
pany the  colony,  and  a  military  order  was  to  be  estab- 
lished  for  its  defence.     His  eloquence,  as  he  advocated 
his  plan  in  the  presence  of  the  emperor,  prevailed,  and  he 
was   suffered   to    make   the   attempt.     It   failed,  through 
the  malconduct  of  the  Spaniards  of  a  neighbouring  settle- 
ment; and,  compelled  to  abandon  his  project,  he  retired 
to   the   Dominican   convent   of  Hispaniola,    to   hide    his 
chagrin    and    his    disgrace.     "It    is     impossible,"     says 
Prescott,   "  not   to    recognize    in    the   whole   scheme   the 
hand  of  one  more  familiar  with  books   than   with   men, 
who   meditated   his   benevolent « plans  without  estimating 
the  obstacles  in  their  way,  and   counted  too  confidently 
on  meeting  the   same  generous  enthusiasm  which  glowed 
in  his  own  bosom."     He  found  his  consolation,  however, 
*  Prescott. 


SUFFERINGS   OF   THE   INDIANS,  823 

for  in  that  period  of  disgrace  and  disappointment,  when 
the  sympathy  of  the  friars  formed  his  only  resource,  he 
received  the  call  to  religion ;  and,  becoming  a  member  of 
the  order  he  had  ever  so  dearly  loved,  he  passed  some 
years  in  retirement,  and  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties 
befitting  his  new  character ;  at  which  time  it  was  that  his 
great  work  on  "  The  History  of  the  Indies,"  was  com- 
menced, though  it  was  finished  only  a  few  years  before 
his  death. 

When  we  next  find  him  at  the  Spanish  Court,  many 
years  had  passed  over  his  head,  but  they  had  not  changed 
his  purpose  or  his  constancy.  A  great  change  had,  how- 
ever, come  over  the  royal  councils.  The  presidency  of 
the  Indian  Council  was  filled  by  no  less  a  man  than 
Garcias  de  Loaysa,  the  confessor  to  the  emperor,  and 
General  of  the  Order  of  Preachers.  The  renewed  appeal 
of  Las  Casas  produced  most  important  regulations  on 
behalf  of  the  American  subjects  of  the  Spanish  Crown, 
and  a  code  of  laws  was  passed,  "having  for  its  express 
object  the  enfranchisement  of  the  oppressed  race ;  and  in 
the  wisdom  and  humanity  of  its  provisions  it  is  easy  to 
recognize  the  hand  of  the  Protector  ot  the  Indians."* 
In  fact  we  are  bound  to  admit  that  little  or  no  blame 
attaches  to  the  Spanish  government  in  their  dealings  with 
their  colonies :  to  use  the  words  of  the  writer  just  quoted, 
"  the  history  of  Spanish  colonial  legislation  is  the  history 
of  the  impotent  struggles  of  the  government  against  the 
avarice  and  cruelty  of  its  subjects;"  and  certainly  neither 
Ferdinand  nor  Charles  ever  showed  themselves  insensible 
to  the  charge  laid  on  them  by  the  sovereign  Pontiff  to 
regard  the  dominions  given  them  by  Providence  as  a  cure 
of  souls.  In  1544,  Bartholomew  de  Las  Casas,  then 
seventy  years  of  age,  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Chiapa. 
He  was  well-nigh  worn  out  with  toil  and  disappointment  : 
he  had  already  crossed  the  Atlantic  on  four  several  missions 
to  the  court  of  Castile,  and  now  he  did  not  shrink  from 
returning  to  his  adopted  country  with  the  fresh  burden 
of  the  episcopate  on  his  venerable  shoulders.  He  had 
need  of  all  his  heroic  courage  to  face  the  storm  that 
#  Prescott, 

y2 


324  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

greeted  him  on  his  landing.  The  colonists  saw  in  him  the 
author  of  the  new  code  which  laid  so  powerful  a  restraint 
upon  their  cruelty  and  rapacity.  He  was  everywhere 
received  with  an  outcry  of  hatred  and  contempt,  "  which," 
says  Touron,  "he  accepted  as  the  appanage  of  the  apos- 
tolate."  Violence  was  even  offered  to  his  person;  yet 
never  did  the  tide  of  opposition  prevail  with  him  so  far  as 
to  induce  him  to  yield  one  point  of  what  he  deemed  the 
cause  of  God.  Up  to  the  last  he  refused  to  admit  to 
the  sacraments  any  who  still  held  an  Indian  in  bondage 
contrary  to  the  regulations  of  the  new  code. 

But  he  was  powerless  to  check  the  flood  of  iniquity 
which  desolated  the  unhappy  country :  his  own  eyes  were 
witnesses  of  those  enormities  which  his  pen  has  so  vividly 
portrayed; — he  saw  infants  torn  from  their  mothers' 
breasts,  and  dashed  against  the  wall,  or  thrown  into  the 
river.  He  beheld  the  unhappy  natives,  with  noses  and 
limbs  cut  off,  thrown,  in  the  sport  of  cruelty,  to  be 
devoured  by  dogs.  He  witnessed  the  brutal  wagers  of 
the  Spanish  conquerors,  where  a  trifling  bauble  was  the 
prize  of  his  dexterity  who  should  strike  off  an  Indian's 
head  at  a  single  sabre-stroke.  He  tells  us  of  massacres  in 
which  500  of  the  chief  caciques  were  slaughtered  in  a 
day ;  and  of  one  occasion  when  4,000  Indians  were  slain, 
700  of  whom  were  thrown  alive  from  the  summit  of  a 
precipice,  so  that  you  might  have  seen  the  air  darkened 
by  the  cloud  of  their  bodies  as  they  fell,  and  were  dashed 
to  pieces  on  the  rocks.  Eighteen  millions  of  Indians  are 
reckoned  to  have  perished  in  these  wholesale  slaughters  ; 
and  the  number  every  day  delivered  to  the  flames  or  the 
wild  beasts  was  so  great,  that,  he  assures  us,  a  certain 
vessel  made  the  voyage  to  S.  Domingo  from  some  distant 
island  without  the  aid  of  a  compass,  being  guided  thither 
only  by  the  dead  bodies  which  floated  over  the  water  by 
thousands.* 

At  length  even  the  hope  and  courage  of  Las  Casas  was 
unequal  to  continue  the  struggle,  and  he  determined  to 
withdraw  from  the  scene  of  abominations  which  he  had  no 

*  Touron,  quoted  from  the  "Relation  of  the  extinction  of  the 
Indians." 


BARTHOLOMEW   DE   LAS   CASAS.  325 

longer  any  power  to  restrain.  He  resigned  his  bishopric, 
and  again  returned  to  Europe,  to  die  among  his  brethren: 
he  appeared  once  more  as  the  champion  of  the  Indians  in 
the  famous  dispute  with  Sepulveda,  who  had  undertaken  to 
justify  the  proceedings  of  the  Spanish  conquerors  in  a 
work  entitled,  "The  Justice  of  the  War  of  the  King  of 
Spain  against  the  Indians."  In  this  book  the  learned 
author  endeavoured  to  make  the  most  of  the  dominion 
over  the  new  world  granted  to  Spain  by  the  Alexandrine 
bull,  and  to  deduce  as  a  consequence  that  the  Spaniards 
might  do  what  they  liked  with  their  own.  The  book 
was  suppressed  owing  to  the  instances  of  Las  Casas,  but 
Sepulveda  at  length  obtained  permission  for  a  solemn 
disputation  on  the  question  to  be  held  between  him  and 
his  opponent  before  the  royal  council.  Dominic  Soto 
>vas  appointed  arbiter,  and  the  aged  champion  of  justice 
to  the  Indians  had  thus  an  opportunity  of  striking  a 
last  blow  in  the  cause  he  had  so  faithfully  and  devotedly 
served.  His  triumph  was  undisputed,  especially  in  the 
propositions,  wherein  he  clearly  demonstrates  that  the 
grant  made  by  the  Holy  See  rested  on  the  condition 
of  the  conversion  of  the  natives  to  Christianity ;  and 
though  this  argument  seemed  to  attack  the  very  integrity 
of  the  Spanish  colonial  empire,  Las  Casas  was  regarded 
with  too  much  respect  for  the  court  to  take  offence. 
He  died  at  length  in  his  92nd  year  at  the  convent 
of  Atocha,  near  Madrid.  His  character  is  one  con- 
cerning which  the  judgments  of  men  have  never  differed : 
Protestants  and  Catholics  have  rivalled  one  another  in 
doing  justice  to  his  heroic  memory.  "  He  was  one 
of  those,"  says  Prescott,  "  to  whose  gifted  minds  are 
revealed  those  glorious  moral  truths  which,  like  the 
lights  of  heaven,  are  fixed  and  the  same  for  ever;  but 
which,  though  now  familiar,  were  hidden  from  all  but 
a  few  penetrating  intellects  by  the  general  darkness  of 
the  times  in  which  they  lived.  He  was  inspired  by 
one  great  and  glorious  idea.  This  was  the  key  to  all 
his  thoughts,  and  to  every  act  of  his  long  life.  It 
was  this  which  urged  him  to  lift  the  voice  of  rebuke 
in   the   presence  of  princes,  to  brave  the  menaces  of  an 


326  TKfi  DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

infuriated  populace,  to  cross  seas,  to  traverse  mountains 
and  deserts,  to  incur  the  alienation  of  friends,  the  hostility 
of  enemies,  and  to  endure  obloquy,  insult,  and  persecution." 
"  His  only  fault,"  says  the  Pere  Charlevoix,  the  Jesuit 
historian  of  S.  Domingo,  "  was  an  over-ardent  imagination, 
by  which  he  at  times  allowed  himself  to  be  too  much 
governed."  In  short,  his  faults  were  those  of  a  generous 
enthusiasm,  his  virtues  those  of  the  purest  Christian 
heroism.  • 

We  have  devoted  so  large  a  space  in  speaking  of  this 
most  illustrious  of  all  the  early  Dominican  missionaries 
of  America,  that  we  must  necessarily  pass  very  briefly 
over  the  names  of  others  who  claim  our  notice.  The 
greater  proportion  of  the  first  American  bishops  were 
chosen  from  the  order  of  Preachers :  *  among  them 
Jerome  de  Loaysa,  first  bishop  of  Carthagena,  and  after- 
wards first  archbishop  of  Lima,  presents  us  with  the 
perfect  model  of  an  apostle.  He  may  be  said  to  have 
been  the  founder  of  all  the  future  glory  of  the  Peruvian 
Church ;  and  Lima,  so  rich  in  saints  and  saintly  men, 
owes  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  her  first  primate,  the  extent 
of  which  can  never  be  rightly  measured.  He  laboured 
equally  at  the  conversion  of  the  Indians,  and  at  the  far 
harder  task  of  Christianizing  the  Spanish  colonists ;  and 
such  was  his  success,  that  he  is  reckoned,  in  all  the 
soberness  of  historic  truth,  as  having  made  up  by  the 
souls  he  gained  to  Christ  in  the  new  world,  for  the 
losses  the  Church  was  then  suffering  in  Europe  at  the 
hands  of  the  Lutheran  heretics.  We  have  said  that 
Lima  is  indebted  for  no  small  part  of  her  religious  glory 
to  the  labours  of  Loaysa.  Her  university  owes  its 
foundation  to  him,  as  well  as  that  celebrated  convent 
of  the  Rosary,  whence  the  university  drew  its  chief 
professors.  We  will  not  attempt  the  task  of  reckoning 
all  the  congregations  and  orders,  the  religious  and 
charitable  foundations,  he  introduced  into  the  city ;  we 
will  content  ourselves  with  remarking  that  the  estab- 
lishment  of  the    Tertiaries  of  S.  Dominic  at  Lima   was 

«  8ee  the  list  of  the  bishopg  who  sat  in  the  two  first  provincial 
councils  of  Lima,  given  in  Touran's  "History  of  Ameri-wi.' 


THE   SAINTS   OF   LIMA.   „  32? 

his  work,  and  from  that  stem  blossomed  the  first  and 
sweetest  saint  of  the  new  world,  S.  Rose  of  Lima,  whose 
sanctity  would  be  glory  enough  to  the  country  which  gave 
her  birth,  even  if  it  did  not  claim  the  right  of  reckoning 
her  as  only  the  first  of  a  long  calendar  of  saints.*  Vat 
verdo,  the  first  bishop  of  Casco,  died  a  martyr's  death, 
being  seized  by  the  cannibals  of  La  Puna,  and  torn 
to  pieces,  whilst  in  the  act  of  celebrating  the  sacred 
mysteries.  Bernard  Albuquerque,  bishop  of  Guaxaca,  is 
another  whose  life  has  the  charm  of  a  romance,  and  whose 
character  is  essentially  of  the  heroic  stamp  ;  and  one 
scarce  knows  which  most  to  admire,  his  untiring  and 
prodigious  labours,  his  life  of  secret  prayer,  or  that  sweet 
and  strange  humility,  which  made  his  more  worldly  col- 
leagues affirm  that  "  he  knew  better  how  to  be  a  saint  than 
how  to  be  a  bishop." 

We  must  "hasten,  however,  to  bring  this  subject  to 
a  close,  and  conclude  our  scanty  sketch  of  the  South 
American  missions  with  the  notice  of  one  name  greater 
than  any  yet  mentioned,  S.  Louis  Bertrand,  the  Xavier 
of  the  Western  world.  In  doing  so  we  must  necessarily 
pass  on  to  a  later  period  ;  and  before  entering  on  the 
labours  of  this,  the  most  illustrious  apostle  whom  the 
Dominican  order  had  produced  since  the  days  of  S. 
Hyacinth,  we  must  beg  our  readers  to  understand,  that, 
in  speaking  of  the  services  rendered  to  the  faith  in 
America  by  that  order,  nothing  is  further  from  our 
intention  than  to  claim  for  them  the  exclusive  honours 
of  the  American  apostolate.     The  Franciscans   in  a  par- 

-*  Among  the  saints  of  the  Liman  Church  we  may  specially  notice 
the  Indian  half-caste,  Martin  Porres,  a  lay  brother  in  the  Domi- 
nican convent  of  the  Rosary.  The  beatification  of  this  holy  man 
seems  the  crowning:  example  of  that,  spirit  which  has  been  the 
special  glory  of  the  Dominicans  of  America  ;  who,  m  the  elevation 
to  their  altar  of  an  Indian  slave,  have  in  the  noblest  manner  pro- 
nounced their  condemnation  of  those  prejudices  which  have  dis- 
graced the  Christian  world  for  three  centuries.  And  whilst  we  see 
the  most  Protestant  of  republics  still  vindicating  the  rights  of 
slavery  and  the  wrongs  of  slaves,  the  veneration  shown  by  the 
Catholic  Church  to  more  than  one  saintly  member  of  this  despised 
class,  presents  a  contrast  which  we  need  not  press  upon  the  atten- 
tion of  our  readers. 


328  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

ticular  manner  divide  the  glory  of  that  work,  and  we 
might  say  that  there  is  scarcely  a  religious  order  which 
was  not  represented  in  the  early  South  American  missions, 
and  which  did  not  distinguish  itself  by  a  noble  advocacy 
of  the  rights  of  humanity  and  justice.  But  in  our 
narrow  limits  we  are  obliged  to  confine  ourselves  to  one 
branch  of  the  subject,  and  certainly  the  consent  of  all 
writers,  even  those  who  are  alien  from  the  faith,  justifies  us 
in  giving  the  Dominicans  something  of  pre-eminence, 
when  speaking  of  the  defence  of  the  suffering  Indians. 
Their  zeal  was  of  so  peculiar  a  kind  as  to  have  extracted 
a  tribute  of  admiration  even  from  such  a  writer  as 
Robertson  ;  and  the  American  author  whom  we  have 
already  so  often  quoted,  gives  his  testimony  in  their  favour 
in  terms  which  evince  how  little  he  is  inclined  to  speak 
favourably  of  the  Order  of  Preachers.  "  The  brethren 
of  S.  Dominic,"  he  says,  "  stood  forth  as  the  avowed 
champions  of  the  Indians  on  all  occasions,  and  showed 
themselves  as  devoted  to  the  cause  of  freedom  in  the 
new  world,  as  they  had  been  hostile  to  it  in  the 
old  ;"*  an  assertion  of  inconsistency  in  the  conduct  of  the 
friars  whick  he  has  not  thought  it  necessary  to  justify 
or  explain 

It  was  in  the  year  1562  that  S.  Louis  Bertrand, 
whose  fame  for  sanctity  had  already  been  established  in 
his  own  country,  arrived  at  Carthagena,  and  found  the 
Christian  faith  rapidly  spreading  under  the  united  efforts 
of  the  Franciscans,  the  Dominicans,  and  the  Order  of 
Mercy.  The  admirable  harmony  with  which  these  three 
orders  worked  together  deserves  a  tribute  of  respect  at 
the  hands  of  the  historian,  and  amid  the  many  jealousies 
and  rivalries  that  force  themselves  on  our  notice  when 
we  enter  on  the  literary  or  political  history  of  any 
body  of  men,  the  evangelical  love  which  was  retained 
unbroken  between  the  missionaries  of  these  different 
societies  is  a  subject  of  perpetually  recurring  consola- 
tion. At  the  period  of  which  we  speak,  we  find  John 
de  los  Barrios,  a  religious  of  the  Order  of  Mercy,  bishop 
of  S.    Martha,   his   first  act  being  the   establishment  in 

■K-Prescott. 


S.    LOUIS  BERTRAND.  329 

his  cathedral  city  of  two  communities,  one  of  S.  Francis, 
and  another  of  S.  Dominic.  The  Austin  Friars  were 
likewise  there,  and  religious  women  of  each  order  scat- 
tered over  the  diocese.  The  charge  of  education  was  giv- 
en over  to  the  Dominicans,  who  were  laying  the  foundation 
of  a  future  university  at  Lima.  As  to  the  work  of 
preaching,  it  was  common  to  all.  The  neighbouring 
diocese  of  Carthagena  was  governed  by  a  Dominican, 
Gregory  de  Beteta  ;  and  by  both  these  holy  prelates  the 
arrival  of  S.  Louis  was  hailed  with  extraordinary  joy. 
He  almost  at  once  entered  on  his  apostolic  labours 
in  all  the  northern  provinces  of  the  Continent,  and  with 
such  success  that  we  are  assured  no  less  than  10,000 
souls  were  gained  by  him  to  Christ  in  the  short  space  of 
three  years.  The  signs  and  graces  promised  to  the  apos- 
tles did  not  fail  to  follow  on  the  preaching  of  this  extraor- 
dinary man,  His  first  prayer  had  been,  to  be  understood 
by  the  people  whom  he  should  address  ;  and  the  mira- 
culous gift  of  tongues,  which  we  know  was  so  frequently 
granted  to  S.  Francis  Xavier,  was  granted  to  him  also. 
Whilst  he  spoke  no  language  but  Castilian,  he  was  under- 
stood by  all  the  various  tribes  and  nations  among  whom 
he  preached. 

But  miracles  are  after  all  the  least  marvellous  and 
least  admirable  part  of  the  story  of  a  saint  i  and  when  we 
read  of  the  sick  cured  by  the  touch  or  prayer  of  the 
servant  of  God  ;  of  storms  quelled,  and  ferocious  animals 
tamed  and  domesticated  by  the  sign  of  the  Cross, — these 
things  seem  little  by  the  side  of  the  constancy  and  sweet- 
ness and  devotedness  which  gave  a  greater  power  to  the 
preaching  of  S.  Louis  than  all  the  marvels  that  he  worked. 
The  savage  people  crowded  about  him  in  wonder ;  their 
hearts  opened  to  him  as,  drawn  by  an  irresistible  charm, 
they  came  and  dashed  their  idols  to  pieces  before  his 
eyes,  and  with  their  own  hands  raised  altars  to  the  true 
God,  and  vowed  to  receive  the  doctrine  of  purity  and 
of  the  Cross.  So  he  passed  from  Carthagena  to  Tabara, 
and  thence,  when  there  were  no  more  infidels  to  con- 
vert, to  the  territories  of  Cipacoa  and  Paluato.  His 
fame  went   before  him  ;    the  Indians   knew  him  but   by 


330  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

one  title,  "  the  religious  of  God,"  and  came  down  from 
their  mountains,  and  from  the  recesses  of  their  forests, 
to  meet  him  on  his  way.  Sometimes,  indeed,  he  was 
not  so  well  received.  We  read  of  one  tribe  of  Paluto 
of  whom  two  only  were  converted  at  the  time  ;  but  the 
harvest  of  souls  in  this  case  was  only  delayed,  and  at 
a  later  period  the  whole  people  embraced  the  faith. 
Once,  as  he  preached  under  a  tree  to  a  vast  multitude, 
a  band  of  savages  were  seen  approachiug  armed  with  bows 
and  lances,  and  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  putting  the 
despiser  of  their  idols  to  a  bloody  death.  Louis  was 
warned  to  fly.  "  Fear  nothing,"  he  replied  :  "  they  will 
not  be  able  to  do  what  they  propose."  The  savages, 
indeed,  reached  his  presence,  but  instead  of  offering  him 
violence,  they  stood  as  though  overpowered  by  a  new  and 
strange  sentiment  of  admiration.  He  continued  to 
speak,  and  when  his  discourse  was  ended,  200  of  his 
intended  murderers  cast  themselves  at  his  feet  and 
demanded  baptism.  He  even  penetrated  alone  among 
the  Carribees,  where,  after  escaping  innumerable  attempts 
against  his  life,  he  made  many  converts,  and  is  said  to 
have  sometimes  won  these  fierce  and  savage  people  by 
the  charm  of  his  music.  At  length,  after  eight  years  of 
these  labours,  he  returned  to  Spain,  wearied  out  by  the 
hardness  of  heart,  not  of  the  heathens,  but  of  the  Spanish 
Christians.  On  his  death,  he  was  fitly  claimed  by  the 
people  of  New  Grenada  as  their  patron  saint,  and  was 
solemnly  declared  protector  of  that  country  by  Alex- 
ander VIII. 

Of  the  long  line  of  prelates  which  the  order  gave 
to  the  South  American  provinces,  our  space  will  not 
allow  us  to  speak,  though  the  name  of  Bartholomew 
Ledesma,  John  Ramirez,  Peter  de  Feria,  and  many  others, 
might  fitly  find  a  place  among  those  which  have  most 
worthily  graced  the  episcopate.  Let  it  be  remembered  that 
those  apostolic  men,  who  evangelized  the  vast  territories 
of  the  American  continent,  were  not  content  with  simply 
preaching  and  converting  souls  ;  but  they  planted  the 
Church  on  solid  and  lasting  foundations  ;  and  wherever  the 
Dominican  missions  appeared,  there  sooner  or  later  were 


THE  PHILIPPINE   ISLANDS.  331 


established  hospitals,  religious  houses,  and  colleges  for 
education  of  all  kinds.  At  Lima  they  founded  the  great 
university,  which  was  entirely  conducted  and  taught  by 
their  professors.  At  Puebla,  in  Mexico,  and  in  many 
other  cities,  as  afterwards  at  Manilla,  in  the  Philippines 
their  colleges  received  the  university  privileges.  The 
hospital  of  S.  Alexis,*at  Guatemala,  where  the  sick  natives 
were  served  and  nursed  by  the  hands  of  the  religious,  owed 
its  erection  to  the  devoted  and  heroic  zeal  of  F.  Matthew  of 
Peace ;  and  scarce  a  town  of  Peru  and  Mexico  but  bears 
even  to  this  day  marks  of  the  pious  labours  of  these 
admirable  men,  whose  names  are  unknown  and  forgotten 
save  in  the  chronicles  of  their  order,  and  in  the  book  ot 
life 

Whilst  these  things  were  going  on  in  the  Western 
world,  the  discoveries  of  Magellan  in  the  Eastern  Archi- 
pelago were  hardly  less  important  in  their  results.  It 
was  in  the  year  1521  that  the  Portuguese  navigator  dis- 
covered that  group  of  islands,  which  being  afterwards  in 
1555  formally  taken  posession  of  by  Philip  II.,  received 
from  him  the  name  of  the  Philippine  Islands.  The 
Augustinian  and  Franciscan  friars  were  the  first  to  take 
advantage  of  the  ground  thus  opened;  but  it  was  not 
long  before  F.  John  de  Castro,  one  of  the  most  illustrious 
of  the   Dominican   missionaries  of  South  America,    was 


--5- The  story  of  this  foundation  is  a  beautiful  illustralion  of  the 
character  of  these  early  missioners.  Matthew,  whilst  still  very 
young,  entirely  devoted  himself  to  the  service  of  the  natives ;  he 
begged  alms  in  the  street  for  their  necssaries,  and  shared  all  their 
hardships  and  sufferings.  He  had  built  a  little  sanctuary  at  Gua- 
temala in  honour  of  our  Lady,  where  be  collected  his  Indians  every 
day,  and  prepared  them  for  the  sacraments.  The  sick  he  received 
in  a  little  hut  adjoining  the  chapel,  which  he  had  built  with  his 
own  hands,  of  straw  and  the  branches- of  trees.  Here  he  nursed 
and  tended  thpm  :  and  not  a  day  passed  but  this  humble  servant 
of  the  despised  Indian  slaves  might  be  seen  seeking  new  objects  of 
charity  in  the  streets,  and  carrying  them  on  his  back  to  his  little 
hospital.  It  was  there  he  lived;  and  neither  the  infection  of  the 
place,  nor  the  difficulties  he  encountered  among  the  Indians  them- 
selves, ever  wearied  out  his' patience.  This  was  the  beginning  oi 
the  hospital  of  S.  Alexis,  afterwards  constructed  on  a  larger  scale, 
and  served  by  the  Dominicans  of  Guatemala. 


n 


332  THE  DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

appointed  vicar-general  of  a  new  mission  destined  for  the 
East,  and  became  the  founder  of  the  celebrated  Philippine 
province  of  the  Holy  Rosary.  1579,  Dominic  Salazar,  a 
Dominican  by  profession,  had  been  appointed  first  bishop 
of  Manilla ;  and  it  was  probably  about  five  years  after 
his  elevation  that  the  new  missionaries  arrived  in  his 
diocese.  Among  them  we  find  the  name  of  Michael 
Benavides,  who  afterwards  succeeded  Salazar  in  the 
government  of  Manilla,  when  the  church  was  erected 
in  to  an  archbishopric.  .  Previous  to  this  elevation,  he 
devoted  himself  with  enthusiasm  to  the  scheme,  alway3 
so  dear  to  Catholic  missionaries,  of  penetrating  into 
China.  The  settlement  of  the  Philippines  offered  singular 
advantages  for  facilitating  this  enterprise;  and,  indeed, 
the  great  value  of  these  islands  as  a  religious  possession, 
was  their  position  half-way  between  the  South  American 
provinces  and  China.  Benavides  succeeded  in  entering 
the  Celestial  empire,  but  was  obliged  after  a  while  to 
return  to  Manilla  without  effecting  any  permanent 
results.  Prom  this  period  the  influence  of  the  Domi- 
nicans became  paramount  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  and 
has  continued  to  be  so  even  to  our  own  day.  A  long 
line  of  illustrious  bishops  of  their  order  have  governed 
the  Church  of  Manilla ;  and  at  a  time  when  almost  every 
other  religious  house  was  suppressed  by  the  revolutionized 
government  of  Spain,  it  was  found  necessary  to  preserve 
one  convent  of  the  Friars  Preachers  (that  of  Ocagna)  for 
the  purpose  of  supplying  the  missions  of  the  Philippine 
province. 

We  have  already  exceeded  our  limits  in  speaking  of 
this  subject ;  we  can,  therefore,  only  add  that  the  apostles 
of  the  Order  of  Preachers  were  to  be  found  during  this 
and  the  succeeding  century  in  almost  every  country  of 
the  east.  In  Hindostan,  they  preceded  the  Jesuits;  in 
Ceylon,  the  Moluccas,  Siam,  Corea,  and  China,  we  might 
reckon  the  names  of  their  missionaries  and  martyrs  by 
hundreds.  Nor  were  the  old  fields  of  Armenia  and 
Persia  neglected  for  these  newer  regions  of  enterprise; 
whilst  from  the  island  of  Scio,  a  home  and  nursery  of 
the  order,  went  forth  a  crowd  of  zealous  missionaries  to 


ITS   APOSTOLIC   CHARACTER.  333 

all  the  coasts  of  the  Archipelago  and  Levant.  And  we 
may  again  remark  the  solid  character  of  the  work  under- 
taken by  the  order  ;  it  always  had  its  eye  on  the  firm 
establishment  of  the  Church  in  the  countries  it  evange- 
lized, by  means  of  educational  institutions  ;  and  it  is 
entirely  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  and  example  of  his 
predecessors  that  we  find  Seraphino  Siccus,  the  master- 
general  of  the  order  in  1622,  establishing  the  college  of 
Nakchivan  in  Armenia  ;  whilst  not  content  with  this,  the 
order  founded  within  a  few  years  another  Armenian 
college  at  Rome,  the  rules  of  which  were  drawn  up  in 
the  general  chapter  of  1644. 

Indeed,  we  may  safely  affirm  that  the  generals  of  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  were  men  worthy  of 
succeeding  to  the  office  which  had  been  made  so  illus- 
trious by  the  first  masters  of  the  order.  Such  men  as 
Seraphino  Siccus,  Nicholas  Rodolph,  Thomas  Tarcus,  and 
their  successors,  present  us  with  splendid  examples  of 
religious  superiors;  and  the  study  of  their  biographies 
furnishes  us  with  some  idea  of  the  vast  spiritual  dominion 
then  included  within  the  government  of  the  Friars 
Preachers;  reaching,  as  we  might  say,  over  the  whole 
known  world,  and  illustrated  during  those  centuries 
with  a  continual  succession  of  martyrs  and  apostolic  men. 
And  it  will  be  seen  that  even  at  a  period  when  the  order 
had  lost  something  of  its  influence  in  Europe,  and  was 
evincing  symptoms  of  languor  and  decadence,  it  never 
lost  anything  of  its  fresh  and  primitive  vigour  in  the 
fields  of  the  apostolate.  The  first  blessing  has  rested  on 
that  work,  wherein  the  first  fervour  of  its  missionaries 
has  never  cooled;  and  the  annals  of  China  in  the 
eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries  present  us  with  the 
same  pictures  of  constancy  and  devotion  as  we  may  find 
in  the  Tartar  or  American  missionaries  of  earlier  ages. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  16th  century.  Revival  of  biblical  learning.  Zenobius  Accia- 
joli.  Giustiniani.  Sanctes  Pagninus.  Sixtus  of  Siena.  Cajetan. 
Scenes  of  the  Keforrnation.  Persecutions  in  Ireland.  Irish 
Martyrs.    Dominican  popes.    The  Council  of  Trent. 

Whilst  the  discoveries  of  navigators  were  daily 
throwing  open  new  fields  to  the  labours  of  the  Dominican 
missionaries,  the  order  was  not  idle  at  home.  The  six- 
teenth century  is,  indeed,  an  eventful  one  in  history,  and 
the  unhappy  religious  revolution  which  distinguished  it 
could  scarcely  fail  to  call  forth  all  the  energies  and 
talents  of  that  institution  which  has  deserved  the  title  of 
the  "hammer  of  the  heretics."  But  even  without  this 
stimulus  to  activity  it  could  not  but  be  roused  to  extraordi- 
nary exertions  in  an  age  which  was  par  excellence  the  age 
of  the  restoration  of  letters,  and  we  naturally  look  in  its 
ranks,  at  this  period,  for  a  more  than  ordinary  display  of 
learning,  and  of  literary  greatness. 

And  here  we  may  remark  how  much  the  influence  of 
Savonarola's  teaching  was  felt  in  the  generation  which 
succeeded  him.  All  the  men  of  eminence  formed  in  his 
school  had  received  a  particular  bias  in  the  direction  of 
their  studies,  the  utility  of  which  in  the  questions  which 
afterwards  rose  to  agitate  the  world  was,  certainly,  in  no 
degree  foreseen  by  Savonarola  at  the  time  it  was  first 
suggested  by  him.  We  allude  to  the  substitution  of 
scriptural  criticism  and  the  study  of  the  oriental  lan- 
guages, in  place  of  scholastic  or  classical  learning,  which 
we  find  general  among  his  disciples,  and  which  gave  the 
same  impulse  to  the  renewed  cultivation  of  what  one 
might  call  the  biblical  sciences,  as  we  have  before  noticed 
as  taking  place  in  the  thirteenth  century.  The  restora- 
tion of  biblical  learning  just  at  a  period  when  the  heretics 
of  Germany  were  about  to  claim  the  Scriptures  as  their 


BIBLICAL  SCHOLARS.  335 

rule  of  faith,  and  when  spurious  translations  of  the  sacred 
text  were  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  unlettered 
multitudes,  may  be  deemed  a  Providential  circumstance, 
and  one  most  important  in  its  results. 

One  of  the  most  distinguished  literary  disciples  of 
Savonarola  was  Zenobius  Acciajoli,  to  whom  we  have 
before  alluded  as  the  friend  and  associate  of  Mirandola 
Politian,  Martiales  Ficinius,  and  other  men  of  learning 
and  genius  who  adorned  the  court  of  the  Msdici,  and 
among  whom  the  study  of  orientalism  was  a  favourite  pursuit. 
After  his  entrance  into  the  Order  of  Preachers,  he  conse- 
crated all  his  literary  powers  to  the  service  of  religion,  and 
in  the  preface  to  his  translation  of  a  treatise  of  Eusebius 
against  Hierocles,  we  find  him  dedicating  to  Lorenzo  de 
Medici,  "  this  the  first  fruits  of  his  studies  since  his 
entrance  into  the  Dominican  order,  whose  special  profes- 
sion it  is  to  neglect  nothing  which  can  contribute  to  the 
defence  of  the  Catholic  faith." 

His  chief  labours  were  spent  on  the  translation  of  the 
works  of  Justin  Martyr  and  Theodoret ;  the  latter  work 
having,  as  he  says,  been  suggested  to  him  by  John  Francis 
Mirandola  as  an  antidote  to  the  dangerous  idolatry  of 
Plato  then  so  universal.  He  was  promoted  to  a  congenial 
and  most  suitable  ofiice  by  Leo  X.,  being  made  Prefect  of 
the  Vatican  Library,  where  every  opportunity  was  afforded 
him  of  pursuing  his  favourite  researches  among  the  trea- 
sures of  Greek  and  Hebrew  literature.  We  shall  find 
almost  all  the  learned  men  of  the  order  at  this  period 
turning  their  attention  to  similar  pursuits ;  among  them 
we  may  mention  Augustine  Giustiniani,  a  member  of  that 
illustrious  house  which  has  supplied  so  many  a  great  name 
to  the  ranks  of  the  Friars  Preachers.  He,  too,  entered 
the  order  just  at  the  time  when  Savonarola's  system  was 
becoming  generally  adopted,  and  the  works  he  subsequently 
published  prove,  says  Touron,  "  that  Greek,  Hebrew, 
Arabic,  and  Chaldaic,  were  as  familiar  to  him  as  Latin." 
He  adds,  naively  enough,  that  the  application  of  Giusti- 
niani to  these  studies  was  at  first  purely  "  the  effect  of 
his  spirit  of  penance,"  but  that  they  afterwards  became 
his    delight.      Being    invited    to   Paris   by    Francis    L, 


336  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

he  awakened  the  attention  of  the  French  prelates  and 
literati  to  the  importance  of  these  pursuits,  and  intro- 
duced the  cultivation  of  oriental  learning  into  the 
university  of  Paris.  His  Psalter  in  five  languages  was 
but  a  sample  of  what  he  purposed  to  have  done;  his 
plan  being  to  give  similar  versions  of  each  of  the  sacred 
books;  but  he  lacked  a  patron  to  assist  him  in  the 
completion  of  this  gigantic  undertaking. 

Not  to  accumulate  the  mere  names  of  learned  men,  we 
shall  content  ourselves,  in  this  reference  to  the  revival 
of  biblical  literature,  with  mentioning  that  of  Sanctes 
Pagninus,  the  wonder  of  his  age,  and  one  who,  like  the 
others  we  have  named,  was  led  to  scriptural  criticism,  and 
the  study  of  the  oriental  languages.  His  Latin  translation 
of  the  Bible  from  the  original  tongues  was  a  work  which 
received  the  approval  of  Leo  X.  That  great  pope,  whom 
Protestant  critics  have  not  hesitated  to  term  exclusively 
heathen  in  his  tastes,  was  one  of  the  most  magnificent 
encouragers  of  sacred  letters  whom  the  Church  ever  pro- 
duced, and  death  alone  prevented  him  from  undertaking 
the  publication  of  Pagninus's  work  at  his  own  expense. 
It  is  said  to  have  occupied  its  author  for  more  than 
thirty  years;  during  which  time  he  produced  a  variety 
of  other  learned  works,  chiefly  intended  to  facilitate  the 
study  of  the  Hebrew  and  Chaldaic  languages.  Nor  can 
we  omit  recalling  to  mind  the  fact  that  this  man  of 
letters  was  also  the  apostle  of  the  south  of  France,  and  a 
hero  of  charity.  Of  the  seventeen  years  of  his  residence 
at  Lyons,  fourteen  were  spent  amid  the  horrors  of  pesti- 
lence; and  Lyons  has  to  thank  him  for  that  magnificent 
hospital  which  was  built  for  the  sufferers  at  his  suggestion 
by  Thomas  Guadagni. 

The  name  of  Sixtus  of  Siena  claims  our  notice  not  only 
for  his  own  merit  as  an  author,  but  on  account  of  his  con- 
nection with  the  early  career  of  S.  Pius  V.  It  is  well 
that  our  readers  should  see  something  of  a  Dominican. 
Inquisitor,  and  we  know  no  better  example  with  which 
to  present  them  than  that  of  Michael  Ghislieri.  Sixtus 
was  by  birth  a  Jew :  we  know  nothing  of  the  story  of  his 
conversion,  but  there  is  sufficient  evidence  that  his  bold 


SIXTHS   OF   SIENA.  337 

genius  very  early  showed  a  disposition  to  original  and 
dangerous  speculation.  It  was  in  the  year  1500  that  F. 
Miehael  Ghislieri,  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  Com- 
missary-General of  the  Holy  Office,  entered  one  day  the 
prisons  of  the  Inquisition,  not  for  the  purpose  of  super- 
intending the  torture,  as  some  of  our  readers  might 
believe,  but  in  order  to  see  and  speak  with  the  prisoners, 
and  inform  himself  personally  of  their  state.  There  he 
found  Sixtus,  then  just  thirty  years  of  age :  he  had  been 
adjudged  guilty,  not  of  heresy  only,  but  of  relapse  into 
heresy,  and  lay  under  sentence  of  death.  Ghislieri  was 
touched  with  compassion,  and  by  his  means  the  unhappy 
man  was  convinced  of  his  errors,  and  induced  to  lay  aside 
the  haughty  resolution  he  had  formed  to  die  rather  than 
to  submit,  and  so  appear  again  in  the  world  humiliated 
and  disgraced.  The  commissary  of  the  Inquisition  left 
the  prison  to  throw  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  Pope  and 
obtain  the  pardon  of  the  prisoner ;  but  this  was  not  all ; 
he  determined  to  charge  himself  and  his  order  henceforth 
with  the  care  of  this  erratic  and  untamed  genius,  and  his 
charitable  and  urgent  solicitations  won  from  the  Pope  a 
permission  rarely  if  ever  granted;  which  was,  to  receive 
the  condemned  but  repentant  heretic  into  the  ranks  of  the 
order. 

Fifteen  years  afterwards,  in  his  dedication  of  his  great 
work,  the  Biblioteca  Sancta,  to  S.  Pius,  Sixtus  thus 
addresses  his  generous  deliverer: — "I  could  not  seek  a 
more  friendly  or  more  powerful  protector  than  you,  who 
once,  in  old  times,  delivered  me  from  the  very  gates  of 
hell,  and  restored  me  to  the  light  of  truth,  and  to  a  yet 
more  perfect  state.  When  you  deigned  to  receive  me 
into  your  order,  you  were  pleased  to  clothe  me  with  your 
own  hand,  and  even  with  your  own  habit,  and  at  the  same 
time  adopted  me  as  your  spiritual  child." 

He  had,  indeed,  in  Sixtus,  saved  a  glorious  soul.  The 
powerful  grasp  of  religious  discipline  completed  the  con- 
version of  heart  which  was  begun  by  those  first  lovirg 
and  charitable  words  in  the  dungeons  of  Rome.  Sixtus 
never  relapsed,  and  his  vast  learning  and  intellectual 
powers    were    thenceforth   directed  to  the   service  of  the 


338  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

faith.  He  was  specially  employed  in  combating  Judaism, 
at  that  time  active  and  powerful  in  its  attacks  on  Christi- 
anity. His  reading,  like  his  writing,  was  all  on  a  prodigious 
scale ;  we  have  the  list  of  his  numerous  works,  mostly 
criticisms  on  the  Scriptures  and  biblical  languages;  but 
with  the  characteristic  impetuosity  of  his  nature,  he  threw 
them  all  into  the  flames  with  his  own  hand,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Biblioteca  Sancta,  which  was  the  only  one 
which  had  reached  completion  at  the  period  of  his  death. 
This  work,  besides  containing  criticisms  and  commentaries 
on  the  sacred  books,  and  a  vast  amount  of  curious  biblical 
erudition  of  all  kinds,  gives  an  exact  account  of  all  the 
writers  who  have  treated  on  similar  subjects  down  to  the 
middle  of  the  16th  century;  in  the  course  of  which  he  has 
become  the  historian  of  many  distinguished  authors  of  his 
own  order. 

We  have  perhaps  said  enough  to  suggest  to  our 
readers  an  idea  of  the  direction  which  had  been  given  to 
the  studies  of  the  Dominicans  just  at  the  period  when 
this  kind  of  learning  was  most  called  for  by  the  special 
needs  of  the  Church.  "We  might  add  many  names  to 
those  given  above ;  but  we  shall  do  no  more  than  allude 
to  that  of  Thomas  de  Vio  Cajetan,  known  to  every  reader  of 
the  history  of  the  Protestant  Reformation  as  that  Cardinal 
Cajetan  to  whom,  as  Legate  of  the  Pope,  Martin 
Luther  made  solemn  profession  of  his  willingness  to  sub- 
mit to  the  judgment  of  the  Roman  Church,  and  to  whom 
he  gave  his  written  declaration  that  "he  repented  of  his 
failure  of  respect  to  the  Pope,  and  demanded  nothing 
better  than  in  all  things  to  follow  the  decision  of  the 
Holy  Father."  Previous  to  his  elevation  to  the  purple, 
Cajetan  had  been  general  of  the  order,  and  had  done  good 
service  to  the  Holy  See  by  a  defence  of  its  prerogatives, 
in  a  treatise  on  the  comparative  authority  of  a  council  and 
the  Sovereign  Pontiff — the  old  traditionary  battle-ground 
of  the  Dominican  champions  of  the  Papacy.  He,  too,  was 
a  biblical  commentator,  and  an  expounder  of  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church  on  those  points  attacked  by  the  Lutheran 
heretics.  But.  it  was  perhaps  more  even  in  his  public 
than  in  his  literary  character,  that  his  name  is  illustrious, 


THE   REFORMATION.  339 

remembered  and  often  maligned  as  it  is  in  our  own  country 
on  account  of  the  firm  opposition  he  offered  to  the  divorce 
of  Henry  VIII.  When  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Imperialists  at  the  sack  of  Rome,  it  is  said  that  Clement 
VII.  mourned  over  his  loss  more  than  over  that  of  his 
capital,  and  declared  the  cardinal  of  S.  Sixtus  to  be  "  the 
light  of  the  Church." 

His  name  brings  before  us  the  great  feature  of  that 
strange  century,  which  dates,  like  the  commencement 
of  modern  history,  as  a  new  era  in  the  destinies  of  Europe, 
and  the  history  of  the  Church.  Far  be  it  from  us  to 
say  of  that  century,  what  may  be  said  of  no  period  with- 
out gravely  impugning  the  fidelity,  or  the  providence  of 
God,  that  its  fruits  were  unmixed  evil.  On  the  con- 
trary, we  know  and  are  assured  that  the  Catholic  Church, 
whilst  it  had  to  deplore  whole  kingdoms  lost  to  the 
unity  of  the  faith,  has  gained  by  having  to  battle  face  to 
face  with  a  form  of  unbelief  avowedly  without  her  pale  ; 
and  that  the  age  of  reform,  falsely  so  called,  was  one  of 
true  reform  to  her,  in  which  the  limits  of  her  faith 
received  their  last  and  exactest  definitions,  and  her  dis- 
cipline put  on  something  of  that  primitive  beauty  which 
had  been  lost  during  the  turbulent  centuries  which  had 
preceded  it.  But  still  the  history  of  the  Reformation  is 
a  book  written  within  and  without  with  lamentation,  and 
mourning,  and  woe.  And  the  order  which  follows  the 
fortunes  of  the  Church,  as  a  guard  of  honour  clings  to 
some  crowned  master  in  the  hour  of  triumph  or  defeat, 
that  order  on  which  we  have  seen  a  sovereign  Pontiff 
bestowing  the  title  of  the  "  Order  of  Truth,"  shared  in 
all  the  sufferings  of  this  unhappy  period.  In  those  terrible 
struggles,  when  so  much  blood  was  shed  amid  the  violent 
disorders  which  everywhere  followed  on  the  preaching 
of  the  new  doctrines,  the  Dominicans  gave  a  crowd  of 
martyrs  to  the  Church.  In  France  alone  it  is  calculated 
3,000  ecclesiastics  and  9,000  religious  perished  by  the 
swords  of  the  Huguenots;  whilst  the  profanations  and 
crimes  that  accompanied  these  murders  were  too  shocking 
to  describe.  We  hear  much  of  the  massacre  of  S.  Bar- 
tholomew, but  France  could  tell  other  tales,  less  familiar 
z  2 


340  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

to  our  ears,  of  thirty-five  convents  of  this  one  order  alone 
fired  by  these  same  Huguenots,  and  their  inhabitants  driven 
out,  tortured,*  or  put  to  the  sword.  In  Germany  they 
suffered  yet  more.  Whole  provinces  had  to  be  abandoned, 
with  their  convents,  in  Poland,  Moravia  and  Bohemia. 
In  the  Low  Countries  frightful  cruelties  were  practised  : 
at  Ghent,  for  instance,  the  brethren  were  seized  to  the 
number  of  a  hundred,  tied  two  and  two,  and  placed  in 
their  own  refectory  to  be  starved  to  death  ;  but  at  the 
end  of  three  days  their  captors  determined  on  shooting  them 
to  shorten  their  trouble,  and  were  about  to  execute  their 
design,  when  the  senate  interfered  and  desired  that  the 
friars  should  only  be  driven  from  the  country.  And  this 
was  instantly  done  ;  the  half-dead  and  famishing  religious 
being  compelled,  though  scarce  able  to  stand,  to  begin  the 
journey,  in  the  course  of  which  many  perished  on  the  road- 
side of  hunger  and  exhaustion. 

But  it  may  perhaps  be  thought  unfair  for  Catholics  to 
complain  of  persecution,  as  though  their  adversaries  enjoyed 
a  monopoly  of  cruelty  in  a  persecuting  age.  The  Hugue- 
nots  of  France,  it  may  be  said,  had  to  bear  as  much  as 
they  inflicted.  "We  will,  therefore,  turn  to  a  country  where 
there  has  been  no  rivalry  in  the  matter  ;  in  whose  history, 
at  least,  Catholics  can  only  appear  as  sufferers,  the  voice 
of  whose  wailing  has  gone  forth  to  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
and  whose  emerald  soil  has  been  dyed  red  in  the  blood  of 
martyrs.  We  will  pass  over  the  suppression  of  the  order 
in  England,  where  forty-two  convents  were  swept  away  by 
Henry  VIII.  with  the  usual  scenes  of  sacrilege  and 
violence  which  accompanied  the  proceedings  of  that  illus- 


*  Among  other  methods  of  slaughter,  it  was  the  practice  of  the 
Huguenot3  to  tie  the  priests  to  a  crucifix,  and  in  this  way  make  them 
marks  for  their  arquebus-shots.  "Who  can  relate  all  the  martyr- 
doms and  persecutions  suffered  by  the  Fathers,''  savs  Michel  Pio, 
"  and  that  not  in  one  place,  but  in  every  part  of  France  ?  Some 
were  cut  to  pieces,  others  thrown  into  wells,  others  dragged  about, 
poisoned  and  pierced  with  swords  and  arrows ;"  whilst,  venting\ 
their  rage  even  on  the  dead  carcases,  they  would  stuff  them  full  of 
corn  and  hay,  and  so  make  them  eating-troughs  for  their  horses.  "  In 
the  midst  of  these  inhumanities,"  he  adds,  ''  the  Huguenots  would 
raise  the  cry,  '  Vive  V Evangile  !  P  ",— (Travagli 


Li  dell'  Ordine,  p.  353  ) 


PERSECUTION   IN   IRELAND.  341 

trious  reformer,  and  where  tlie  nation  showed  #s  re- 
viving appreciation  of  letters  by  publicly  burning  the  works 
ot  the  angelic  doctor.  The  English  province  was  entirely 
destroyed,  and  though  partly  restored  by  Queen  Mary, 
the  renewed  persecution  under  Elizabeth  completed  its 
extinction.  An  interesting  letter  is  given  by  Michel  Pio, 
from  the  English  provincial  of  the  period,  F.  Richard 
Hargrave,  to  the  master-general,  describing  the  exile  of  a 
community  of  Dominican  nuns  of  Dartford,  and  the  state  of 
destitution  in  which  they  were  then  living  in  the  island  of 
Zealand.  One  of  the  religious  of  this  little  community, 
the  last  remains  of  the  English  province,  was  a  sister 
of  the  martyred  Fisher,  bishop  of  Rochester,  "  and  a 
martyr  of  no  less  will  and  constancy,"  says  F.  Hargrave, 
"  than  was  her  brother." 

In  Ireland,  however,  many  circumstances  rendered  it  dif- 
ficult for  the  English  sovereigns  to  carry  out  their  measures 
for  the  destruction  of  religion  with  the  same  success  as  had 
attended  their  efforts  in  their  own  island.  They  were 
there  wholly  without  popular  support,  and  though  the 
laws  against  Catholics  were  framed  for  both  countries, 
yet  they  were  never  able  to  root  up  the  Church  or  her 
religious  orders,  as  they  had  done  in  England.  Never- 
theless, the  Catholic  religion  endured  great  sufferings. 
We  will  give  one  specimen  of  the  system  pursued  by 
Elizabeth  on  her  accession  to  the  crown,  taken  from  the 
"  Epilogus  Chronologicus,"  of  Father  John  O'Heyne. 
It  was  in  the  year  1602,  that  a  number  of  religious, 
Benedictines,  Cistercians,  and  others,  together  with  seven 
Dominicans,  were  assembled  in  the  island  of  Scattery, 
under  orders  to  leave  the  kingdom.  A  royal  ship  of 
war  took  them  on  board,  with  the  purpose,  as  was  pre- 
tended, of  conveying  them  to  the  coasts  of  France  or 
Spain.  But  though  this  was  the  professed  design,  the 
captain  had  his  private  orders  conveyed  by  a  royal  man- 
date ;  and  so  soon  as  they  were  out  of  sight  of  land,  every 
one  of  the  prisoners,  to  the  number  of  forty-two,  was  thrown 
overboard.  Elizabeth,  however,  had  a  character  to  keep 
up,  and  therefore,  on  the  return  of  her  officers,  after 
despatching  her  royal   orders,  they  and  all  on  board  were 


342  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

cast  into  prison.  But  let  not  the  reader  suppose  that  this 
was  intended  as  any  mark  of  displeasure  on  the  part  of 
their  sovereign  ; — on  the  contrary,  having  by  this  act  suf- 
ficiently vindicated  her  reputation  for  justice  and  tolera- 
tion, the  prisoners  were  after  a  few  days  released,  and  by 
another  mandate  rewarded  for  their  good  service  by  being 
put  in  possession  of  the  very  abbey-lands  which  formed  the 
property  of  their  victims. 

Protestant  writers  of  course  pass  over  facts  like  these; 
and  their  Protestant  readers  will  therefore  go  on  to  the 
end  extolling  the  glories  of  that  "  bright  occidental  star," 
whose  rising  put  an  end  to  the  inhuman  cruelties  of  the 
Papists.  That  can  be  scarcely  called  ignorance  which 
refuses  to  know  the  truth';  and  the  martyrdoms  of  Irish 
Catholics  under  Elizabeth  were  not  few  in  number,  neither 
are  they  left  without  full  historical  records.  They  put 
the  inquisition  to  the  blush  ;  hanging  was  thought  too 
mild  a  death  to  inflict  on  the  victims  of  "  religious 
tolerance."  The  ingenuity  of  the  Indian  savages  was 
imitated  in  the  devising  of  new  and  strange  tortures. 
They  were  roasted,  and  pressed  to  death  ;  their  nails 
were  slowly  torn  from  their  feet  and  hands  ;  they  were 
exposed  to  die  of  cold  and  starvation  ;  and  the  imagina- 
tion of  their  tormentors  was  racked  to  invent  originalities 
in  the  way  of  cruelty.  What,  for  instance,  are  we  to 
think  of  the  punishment  "inflicted  on  Dermot  Hurle, 
archbishop  of  Cashel,  a  Dominican  ?  He  was  sentenced 
to  be  hanged  ;  but  previously  to  his  execution,  was  sub- 
jected to  an  extraordinary  barbarity.  His  entire  legs  and 
feet  were  covered  with  a  corrosive  plaster  made  of  pitch, 
sulphur,  brandy,  salt,  and  other  combustible  materials, 
which  slowly  consumed  the  flesh  ;  the  plaster  was  renewed 
hour  after  hour,  till  the  arteries  and  muscles  were  destroy- 
ed, and  the  very  bones  appeared  ;  and  his  enemies,  having 
thus  satisfied  their  savage  malice,  then  conducted  him  to 
the  scaffold,  though  we  are  told  they  did  so  before  brealc  of 
day,  lest  the  circumstances  of  his  previous  tortures  should 
become  public. 

A  great  number  of  the  religious  of  the  order  suffered 
during  the  reigns  of  James  I.  and  Charles  I.,  yet  still  it 


IRISH   MARTYRS.  343 

survived  in  spite  of  all  that  the  rack  and  the  gibbet  could 
do  to  extinguish  it.  But  during  the  conquest  of  the 
island  by  Cromwell,  Ireland  was  made  to  drain  to  the  very 
dregs  the  chalice  of  her  misery.  We  have  neither  space 
nor  inclination  to  dwell  at  length  on  the  barbarities  in- 
flicted by  that  champion  of  religious  liberty,  yet  wo 
cannot  omit  an  allusion  to  one  or  two  among  the  many 
illustrious  martyrs  whose  deaths  shed  an  additional  lustre 
over  the  Irish  province  of  the  Friars  Preachers.  There 
is  something  that  reminds  us  of  the  acts  of  the  early 
Christian  martyrs  in  the  account,  for  instance,  given  us 
of  the  death  of  F.  Richard  Barry,  prior  of  Cashel,  who 
was  seized  in  the  church  with  a  number  of  other 
Catholics,  both  secular  and  ecclesiastic,  after  having 
insisted  on  his  brethren  seeking  safety  by  flight.  He 
was  a  man  of  noble  and  stately  bearing,  and  when  the 
leader  of  the  hostile  troop  came  into  his  presence,  he  was 
bo  struck  by  his  appearance  that  he  offered  him  his  life 
if  he  would  only  consent  to  quit  the  religious  habit. 
But  Father  Barry  rejected  the  offer  with  heroic  disdain. 
"  These  garments,"  he  said,  "  are  the  livery  of  Christ, 
and  represent  to  me  His  Passion  ;  they  are  the  banner 
of  my  military  service  to  Him ;  I  have  worn  them  from 
my  youth  upwards,  and  never  will  I  put  them  off." 
Enraged  at  his  obstinacy,  they  determined  to  make  an 
example  of  him,  and  collecting  a  fire  of  sticks  on  the  rock 
of  Cashel,  they  burnt  him  slowly  from  his  feet  upwards, 
and  at  length  ended  his  sufferings  with  a  thrust  of  a  sword. 
Or  again,  how  beautiful  is  the  story  of  Father  Lawrence 
O'Ferall  of  Longford,  who,  being  remanded  for  three 
days,  secretly  prayed  to  God  that  the  palm  of  martyrdom 
should  not  be  denied  him.  When  led  to  the  scaffold,  he 
threw  his  rosary  round  his  neck,  and  meekly  folding  his 
hands  under  his  scapular  after  the  manner  of  his  order, 
he  submitted  to  the  hangman  with  a  sweet  and  cheerful 
countenance.  As  he  hung  suspended  in  the  air,  by  a 
marvellous  prodigy,  he  withdrew  one  of  his  hands  from 
his  scapular,  and  with  it  held  his  cross  high  above  his  head, 
in  token  of  victory  and  triumph,  until  all  was  over. 

But   we   must  remember   that  we   are   not   writing   a 


344  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDEK. 

niartyrology.  In  spite  of  torrents  of  blood  and  con- 
tinual banishments,  the  Irish  province  lived  on,  and  its 
succession  of  provincials  has  remained  unbroken  even  to 
our  own  time.  We  have  already  spoken  of  the  grant 
made  by  Clement  VIII.  to  the  Irish  branch  of  the  order, 
of  the  convents  of  S.  Clement  and  S.  Sixtus  at  Home. 
It  likewise  possesses  other  foreign  establishments,  such 
as  the  college  at  Lou  vain,  erected  by  permission  of 
Philip  IV.  in  1655;  and  that  at  Lisbon  founded  in  1615, 
whose  first  prior,  F.  Dominic  O'Daly,  has  left  several  in- 
teresting works  on  the  history  and  sufferings  of  his  order. 
We  must  pass  from  this  part  of  our  subject  to  glance 
for  a  moment  at  some  of  those  great  theologians  whose 
services  were  called  forth  by  the  peculiar  exigencies  of 
the  times.  In  the  history  of  the  Protestant  Reforma- 
tion, the  names  of  some  of  these  Dominican  defenders  of 
the  faith  have  attained  an  immortal  celebrity.  None, 
perhaps,  offered  a  more  formidable  opposition  to  the  new 
sectaries  than  John  Faber,  one  of  the  chief  Catholic 
theologians  at  the  celebrated  Conference  of  Baden  (in 
which  the  doctrines  of  Luther  and  Zuinglius  were  defi- 
nitively condemned),  and  at  the  subsequent  Diet  of 
Spires.  The  two  Soto's,  Dominic  and  Peter,  with  Mel- 
chior  Cano,  upheld  the  theological  renown  of  the  order 
in  Spain.  Peter  Soto  was  the  friend  of  Cardinal  Pole, 
the  last  Dominican  whose  voice  was  heard  in  the  schools 
of  Oxford.  During  the  temporary  restoration  of  the 
faith  in  England  under  Philip  and  Mary,  he  was  estab- 
lished professor  at  the  university,  and  revived  for  a  brief 
space  the  ancient  scholastic  and  theological  studies  that 
had  formerly  flourished  there.  Associated  with  him  in 
this  work  were  several  others  of  his  order,  amongst  them 
Bartholomew  Carranza  and  John  of  Villagracia ;  and  we 
are  assured  the  conversions  effected  by  them  were  very 
numerous.  Dominic  Soto  was  one  of  that  great  body  of 
Dominican  theologians  who  took  so  large  a  share  in  the 
deliberations  of  the  Council  of  Trent ;  and  during  the  first 
six  sessions  of  the  council  he  was  appointed  to  represent 
the  general  of  the  order.  He  was  placed,  moreover,  at 
the  head  of  all  the  theologians  sent  by  the  emperor  \  and 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT.  345 

among  the  fifty  fathers  of  his  order  who  were  present  in 
that  august  assembly,  he  was  considered  the  one  of  highest 
repute.  This  certainly  is  no  light  praise,  when  we  con- 
sider who  those  Dominicans  were  who  filled  the  ranks  of 
the  Tridentine  Fathers.  There  was,  at  a  later  period  of 
the  sessions,  Leonard  Marinis,  the  archbishop  of  Lan- 
ciano,  who  sat  there  as  Papal  legate,  to  whom,  in  company 
with  two  others  of  his  order,  Giles  Foscarari  and  Francis 
Forerio,  was  committed  the  drawing  up  of  the  Catechism 
of  the  Council  of  Trent.  There  was  Bartholomew  of  the 
Martyrs,  the  saintly  archbishop  of  Braga,  and  the  un- 
flinching promoter  of  ecclesiastical  reform,  the  friend  and 
adviser  of  S.  Charles  Borromeo,  and,  we  might  say,  the 
model  on  which  he  formed  his  idea  of  sanctity.  There 
also  was  the  companion  and  chosen  associate  of  Bartho- 
lomew, Henry  of  Tavora,  afterwards  archbishop  of  Goa, 
a  man  of  singular  and  primitive  simplicity:  these,  and 
others  equally  illustrious,  represented  the  order  of 
Preachers  in  that  great  council,  where  one  and  all  dis- 
tinguished themselves  with  extraordinary  unity  of  senti- 
ment as  the  champions  of  Church  reform.  No  one  will 
mistake  the  sense  in  which  we  use  these  words,  and 
certainly  the  Dominican  order  is  not  the  body  which  lies 
open  to  the  suspicion  of  favouring  novelties  and  innova- 
tions. The  reform  aimed  at  by  the  Tridentine  Fathers 
was  the  universal  restoration  of  that  primitive  discipline 
which  we  see  carried  out  in  the  episcopates  of  such  men 
as  Bartholomew  of  the  Martyrs,  S.  Charles  Borromeo, 
Lanuza,  and  other  saintly  bishops  who  illustrated  an  age 
rendered  yet  more  distinguished  as  the  age  of  ecclesiastical 
reform  by  the  pontificate  of  S.  Pius  V, 

In  fact,  it  is  well  known  that  some  of  the  most  stringent 
measures  of  ecclesiastical  reform  originated  with  the 
Dominican  members  of  the  council.  One  of  the  prelates 
in  attendance  resolutely  opposed  some  of  these;  and,  in 
particular,  ventured  to  press  the  propriety  of  exempting 
the  cardinals  from  the  effect  of  the  reforming  decrees. 
"  The  most  illustrious  and  reverend  cardinals/'  he  said, 
in  the  pompous  style  of  a  court  eulogist,  "  can  stand  in 
need  of  no  reform."     Bartholomew  of  the  Martyrs  iimne- 


346  THE  DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

diately  rose  to  reply.  "  The  most  illustrious  and  reverend 
cardinals  shall  have  a  most  illustrious  and  most  reverend 
reform;"  and  his  opponent  was  soon  obliged  to  give  up  the 
point  before  the  determination  of  the  Portuguese  primate. 
We  have  already  alluded  to  his  strictures  on  the  building 
tastes  of  Pius  IV.  His  name  is  to  be  had  in  benediction 
as  one  of  the  most  glorious  examples  of  pastoral  excellence 
the  order  ever  produced,  and  as  the  guide  and  teacher 
of  one  who  surpasses  him  in  the  glory  of  actual  canoniza- 
tion, yet  was  but  the  disciple  and  imitator  of  his  episcopal 
■?a:eer.  It  was  probably  after  some  such  scene  as  that  we 
ime  described  in  the  Belvidere  gardens,  that  the  young 
Cardinal  Borromeo  followed  him  to  his  room,  and  opened 
his  whole  heart  to  the  first  man  who  had  ever  seemed 
worthy  of  his  confidence.  "  There  is  none  here  but  God 
and  ourselves,"  he  said,  closing  the  door  behind  him, 
"  and  you  must  hear  me,  for  I  loved  you  from  the  first 
moment  that  we  met ;  and  I  well  know  that  it  was  for 
my  sake  God  sent  you  hither.  You  see  what  it  is  to  be 
nephew  to  a  Pope ;  I  ^m  young  and  care  for  none  of 
these  things.  I  shall  resign  all  my  preferments  and 
retire  to  some  monastery  of  strict  observance,  for  I  desire 
only  to  save  my  soul."  If  S.  Charles  was  preserved  in 
his  exalted  position,  and  exhibited  to  all  future  ages  as 
the  model  of  the  episcopate,  it  was  owing  to  the  advice 
and  guidance  of  Bartholomew  at  that  critical  moment. 
His  work,  entitled  the  "  Stimulus  Pastorum"  being 
instructions  for  those  entering  on  the  pastoral  office,  is 
said  to  have  been  the  constant  companion  of  the  saint ;  he 
carried  it  in  his  bosom,  and  the  living  example  of  its 
incomparable  author  was  the  rule  by  which  he  guided  his 
subsequent  career. 

We  have  alluded  to  the  pontificate  of  S.  Pius.  Two 
other  members  of  the  Order  of  Preachers  had  already 
ascended  the  chair  of  S.  Peter.  Peter  de  Tarentasia, 
under  the  title  of  Innocent  V.,  in  a  short  reign  of  five 
months,  had  accomplished  the  reconciliation  of  the  Guelph 
and  Ghibeline  factions  of  Tuscany,  and  left  a  name  so 
dear  and  venerable,  that  though  no  office  has  been 
granted  in   his   honour,   his  name  is  often  distinguished 


DOMINICAN   POPES.  347 

with  the  popular  title  of  Blessed.  Nicholas  Bocassini,  the 
ninth  general  of  the  Dominicans  who,  true  to  the  loyal 
instincts  of  his  order,  stood  by  the  unfortunate  pontiff 
Boniface  VIII.,  when  all  else  deserted  him,  on  the  fatal 
day  of  Anagni,  became  his  successor,  and  is  known  in 
history  as  the  blessed  Benedict  XI.  His  pontificate  lasted 
but  a  single  year;  but,  like  that  of  Pope  Innocent  it  was 
long  enough  to  be  deemed  illustrious,  and  to  fill  the  dis- 
tracted Church  of  the  14th  century  with  the  sweet  and 
gracious  odour  of  peace.  "Wars  and  dissensions  fled  from 
Rome,"  says  an  ancient  author,  quoted  by  Oderic  Ray- 
naldus,  "when  Benedict  appeared."  Peace^oo  was  restored 
by  his  fatherly  hand  between  France  and  the  Holy  See; 
and  the  grievances  which  had  arisen  in  the  reign  of 
Boniface  were  healed  and  reconciled.  In  every  country 
the  legates  of  the  blessed  Benedict  were  to  be  found  preach- 
ing the  same  gospel  of  peace  and  reconciliation ;  and  if,  as 
is  thought,  his  early  death  was  caused  by  poison  adminis- 
tered by  his  enemies,  we  may  pronounce  his  eulogium  in 
the  words  of  Touron,  and  say  that,  "  the  victim  and  the 
martyr  of  peace,  he  lived  but  to  preach  its  doctrines,  and 
reigned  only  to  make  it  reign." 

Benedict  XI.  has  received  the  solemn  beatification  of 
the  Church.  It  remained  for  her  to  bestow  a  yet  higher 
honour  on  the  third  Dominican  who  succeeded  to  the 
sacred  tiara.  This  was  Michael  Ghislieri,  of  whose 
character  as  grand  inquisitor  we  have  already  spoken. 
The  whole  idea  of  the  pontificate  of  S.  Pius  was  one  of 
ecclesiastical  reform  ;  and  if  something  of  severity  appears 
to  attach  to  his  government,  let  it  be  remembered  that 
this  severity  was  directed  in  most  cases,  not  against 
seculars  and  heretics,  but  against  the  Catholic  clergy 
themselves.  Borne  under  his  rule  became  once  more 
worthy  of  the  title  of  the  Holy  City: — nor  was  there  a 
country  in  the  wide  range  of  Christendom  that  did  not 
feel  the  effects  of  his  parental  solicitude.  Tfe  can  find 
in  the  annals  of  no  single  pontificate,  if  we  except  that  of 
Innocent  III.,  such  examples  of  vigilance  over  all  people, 
and  all  churches  that  owned  the  rule  of  Peter,  as  we  find 
in  the  history  of  S.  Pius.     And  when  we  remember  the 


348  THE  DOMINICAN  ORDER. 

period  during  which  he  held  the  reins  of  government, — • 
a  period  when  Europe  was  on  one  side  revolutionized  by 
the  madness  of  sectaries,  whilst  on  the  other  the  power  of 
the  Ottomans  was  every  day  advancing  nearer  and  nearer, 
and  destroying  one  by  one  her  bulwarks  of  defence, — • 
we  shall  be  better  able  to  do  justice  to  the  qualities  of 
one  to  whose  greatness  the  world  and  the  Church  alike 
bear  witness  in  his  threefold  character  of  pontiff,  prince, 
and  saint.  His  election  to  the  chair  of  S.  Peter  was  the 
work  of  S.  Charles  Borromeo,  whose  influence  was  para- 
mount in  the  conclave  that  assembled  on  the  death  of 
Pius  IV.  He^may  be  considered  the  last,  and  in  some 
respects  the  greatest,  of  that  long  line  of  popes  whose 
temporal  and  political  power  almost  equalled  that  of 
their  spiritual  supremacy.  After  his  time,  the  political 
influence  of  the  Roman  pontiffs  gradually  declined;  it 
had  rested  on  the  religious  unity  of  the  European  states, 
and  when  that  unity  was  broken,  the  Roman  see,  which 
had  formed  its  centre,  naturally  lost  much  of  the  power 
it  had  hitherto  possessed.  But  though  the  causes  which 
effected  the  change  were  already  in  operation  during  the 
reign  of  Pius  V.,  they  had  only  begun  to  work,  and  the 
crisis  of  extraordinary  danger  which,  in  the  middle  of 
the  16th  century,  well  nigh  laid  Europe  at  the  mercy 
of  the  Turks,  was  the  last  occasion  when  a  Roman 
pontiff  was  seen  acting  as  the  .father  of  the  Christian  -» 
world,  animating  the  distracted  sovereigns  to  courage 
and  unity  with  his  single  voice,  and  directing  all  thip 
was  left  in  Europe  of  faith  and  chivalry  against  the 
hosts  of  the  Mussulman  invaders.  The  Christian  league, 
whose  victory  at  Lepanto  broke  the  naval  power  of  the 
Turks,  and  saved  Europe  from  unimaginable  sufferings, 
was  the  creation  of  S.  Pius ;  nothing  short  of  his  un- 
wearied constancy,  and  the  influence  of  his  venerable 
authority,  could  have  cemented  such  a  league  in  that 
hour  of  discord ;  the  glorious  result  of  the  great  struggle 
belongs  to  him  and  to  his  order;  and  its  results,  as  well 
as  the  sagacity  and  pious  zeal  of  him  who  was  the 
presiding  spirit  of  the  Christian  confederacy,  extorted 
from  Bacon  the  memorable  words,    "  I  marvel   that  the 


s.  Pius  v.  349 

Roman  Church  has  not  yet  canonized-  this  great  man." 
In  the  following  century,  however,  those  honours  were 
formally  granted  to  S.  Pius  which  had  long  before  been 
his  by  popular  acclamation.  He  had  earned  them,  not 
merely  as  the  victorious  defender  of  Christendom,  but 
by  the  merits  of  a  pontificate  which  aimed  at,  and  in  no 
small  degree  succeded  in,  restoring  to  the  Church  its 
primitive  purity  and  beauty.  The  part  he  had  taken  in 
drawing  up  the  reforming  decrees  of  the  Council  of 
Trent  was  very  considerable,  but  still  greater  was  his 
share  in  enforcing  them.  And  lest,  in  representing  him  as 
the  uncompromising  advocate  of  ancient  discipline,  any 
should  think  of  him  as  acting  on  that  narrow-minded 
bigotry  which  refuses  to  mould  itself  to  the  views  and 
necessities  of  the  age,  let  them  remember  that  he  was 
the  warm  advocate  of  popular  education,  the  founder  of 
the  Confraternity  of  Christian  Doctrine,  and  the  liberal 
patron  of  parish  schools,  and  factories,  on  the  foundation 
of  which  latter  establishments  he  expended  100,000 
crowns,  in  order  to  supply  some  means  for  correcting 
the  idleness,  as  well  as  the  ignorance,  of  his  people.  Nor 
is  the  Church  without  her  obligations  to  him  in  matters 
which  might  be  deemed  of  lighter  import.  True  to  the 
traditions  of  his  order,  he  supported  the  principles  of 
Christian  art,  against  the  abuses  of  the  renaissance.* 
The  same  sensuality  which  had  debased  the  arts  of 
painting  and  sculpture  had,  towards  the  middle  of  the 
16th  century,  infused  its  poison  with  no  less  subtlety 
into  music ;  so  that  the  Council  of  Trent,  which  had 
passed  a  severe  condemnation  on  the  character  of  the 
pictures  and  images  then  being  introduced  into  the 
churches,  felt  called  on  in  like  manner  to  censure  tho 
worldly  and  effeminate  music  which  had  taken  the  place 
of  church  harmony.  S.  Pius,  when  cardinal,  formed  one 
of  the  commission  before  whom  the  question  was  finally 
brought,  which  was  to  decide  whether,  in  consequence  oi 
these  abuses,  the  use  of  all  ornamental  or  figured  musio 

*  By  order  of  S.  Pius  all  statuary  of  a  reprehensible  character  in 
the  gallery  of  the  Vatican  was  removed,  and  the  pieces  of  any 
artistic  merit  placed  in  the  collection  at  the  Capitol. 


350  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

should  not  be  abandoned.  It  was  the  genius  of  Palestrina 
which  alone  prevented  such  a  result.  The  Mass,  commonly 
known  as  that  of  Marcellus  II.,  on  which  the  trembling 
hands  of  the  composer,  who  knew  how  much  depended 
on  the  judgment  to  be  formed  of  his  work,  had  traced 
the  words,  "  Deus  adjuva  me,"  convinced  all  who  listened, 
that  music,  like  painting,  in  religious  hands,  could  minister 
to  a  religious  end.  The  question  remained  undecided, 
however,  until  the  accession  of  S.  Pius,  who  immediately 
appointed  Palestrina  master  of  the  papal  chapel,  where 
the  spirit  and  traditions  of  the  great  master  of  sacred 
harmony  still  survive. 

We  may  finally  remind  our  readers,  that  by  English 
Catholics  the  name  of  S.  Pins  should  ever  be  held  in 
peculiar  veneration :  he  never  failed  to  show  a  warm, 
paternal  sympathy  in  their  sufferings;  and  his  corres- 
pondence with  Mary  Stuart,  the  unhappy  victim  of 
Elizabeth's  tyranny,  is  not  among  the  least  interesting 
pages  of  his  life. 

The  order  of  Friars  Preachers  still  continued  fruitful 
m  men  of  letters;  and  among  them  we  find  three  who 
attained  to  eminence  as  historians, — Leander  Albert, 
Malvenda,  the  annalist  of  his  order,  and  Bzovius,  to 
whom  was  committed  the  task  of  completing  the  Annals 
of  Baronius.  In  Spain  we  seem  to  behold  that  group  of 
illustrious  Dominicans  whose  names  are  associated  with 
the  reform  of  S.  Theresa,  among  whom  are  to  be  reckoned 
S.  Louis  Bertrand  himself,  her  friend  and  supporter  in 
many  difficulties,  and  Dominic  Bannez,  her  confessor 
through  the  most  stormy  period  of  her  life.  Indeed  the 
close  connection  of  the  order  with  the  life  of  this  great 
saint  is  not  among  the  least  interesting  chapters  of  its 
history ;  and  if,  in  God's  Providence,  many  of  its  saintly 
men  were  suffered  to  co-operate  with  her  in  her  work,  it 
received  its  reward  in  the  precious  testimonies  of  esteem 
which  it  has  received  from  her  pen. 

The  mention  of  the  Spanish  Dominicans  of  the  16th 
century  recalls  one  name,  probably  more  familiar  to  our 
readers'  ears  than  any  we  have  yet  given, — that  of  Louis 
of  Granada,  whose    works  have  found  a  home  in  every 


ITS  LATER  SAINTS.  351 

language,  and  are  esteemed  even  by  those  who  widely 
differ  from  his  faith.  Among  the  mystic  writers  of  the 
order,  he  has  had  a  more  world-wide  influence  and 
reputation  than  any  who  preceded  him.  Doubtless  in 
his  writings  we  miss  the  sweet  antique  pathos  of  Suso, 
or  the  terrific  majesty  of  Thaulerus  ;  he  comes  to  us  in  a 
more  modern  guise  and  spirit ;  nevertheless,  the  author 
of  the  "  Guide  of  Sinners"  is  certainly  one  cf  those  to 
whom  the  Christian  world  stands  most  indebted.  In  his 
own  day  his  works  were  read  and  esteemed  in  every 
European  country,  and  yet  it  is  even  more  his  sancity 
than  his  genius  that  we  love  to  commemorate.  A  peculiar 
beauty  ever  attaches  to  the  friendship  of  the  saints,  and 
there  are  few  more  delightful  passages  in  the  history  of 
Louis  of  Grenada  than  those  which  exhibit  him  to  us 
in  his  familiar  intercourse  with  S.  Louis  Bertrand,  and 
the  great  archbishop  of  Braga.  No  office  or  dignity  in 
the  Church  could  have  been  too  high  for  him  to  aspire  to, 
and  hardly  one  exists  which  was  not  pressed  on  his 
acceptance ;  but  he  refused  them  all.  and  when  his 
acceptance  of  the  purple  was  urged  on  him  by  Gregory 
XIII.  he  replied  to  the  pontiff's  solicitations  in  the  words 
of  Job,  "  In  nidulo  meo  moriar j" — "  I  will  die  in  my 
little  nest.  "* 

Once  more  we  repeat,  it  is  not  as  writers  and  men  of 
letters  that  we  most  desire  our  readers  to  admire  the 
posterity  of  S.  Dominic.  Even  during  this  century, 
when  the  heretics  declaimed  so  loudly  against  the  corruption 
of  the  Church  and  her  religious,  it  is  remarkable  that  the 
order,  and  we  might  add  the  Church  at  large,  was  richer  in 
saints,  and  saintly  men  and  women,  than  at  almost  any 
other  period. f  The  religious  spirit  had  not  departed  from 
the  cloisters  of  the  Friars  Preachers,  and  those  whom  the 

-::-  Job.  xxix.18. 

f  The  century  of  the  Protestant  Reformation  was  illustrated  in 
the  Catholic  Church  by  the  lives  of  some  of  her  very  greatest  saints. 
We  find  all  livirg  at  the  same  time,  S.  Pius  V.,  S.  Philip  Neri, 
S.  Ignatius  Loyola,  S.  Louis  Bertrand,  S.  Francis  Borgia,  8.  The- 
resa, S-  Catherine  of  Ricci,  S.  Peter  Alcantara,  S.  Charles  Borromeo, 
S.  Andrew  Avellino,  S.  Francis  Xavier,  S.  Pascal  Baylen,  S.  Stanis- 
laus Kotska,  fc*.  Aloysius  Gouzaga,  and  many  others  of  almost  equal 
note. 


352  THE  DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

world  celebrated  for  their  learning  and  literary  distinction 
were  rather  valued  among  their  own  brethren  for  their 
sanctity  and  prayer.  And  lest  our  readers  should  carry 
away  the  idea  that  lectures  and  disputations,  and  the  dan- 
gers .  of  learned  celebrity  must  necessarily  have  effaced 
the  monastic  simplicity  of  the  former  ages,  let  them  con- 
sider the  example  of  F.  Bartholomew  of  Valenza,  a  disciple 
of  S.  Louis  Bertrand,  and  a  great  theological  lecturer  in  his 
day.  When  he  addressed  his  scholars,  we  are  told,  do 
what  he  would,  his  lectures  fell  into  the  language  of  prayer. 
He  always  spoke  in  abstraction,  to  God,  and  not  to  them 
— "  Jesus,  my  love,5'  he  would  say,  "  Thy  servant  S. 
Thomas  in  this  question  considers  the  difference  between 
time  and  eternity  :  do  Thou  deliver  me  from  time,  and 
conduct  me  to  a  blessed  eternity,  even  to  Thyself,  0  God. 
Amen.  But  in  the  reasoning  of  Thy  servant  Thomas, 
there  arises  difficulties  which  I  know  not  how  to  answer  ; 
0  Master  of  my  soul,  give  me  Thy  Holy  Spirit  to  unc^r- 
stand  that  which  I  shall  one  day  see.  Thy  servant  Caje^an 
on  the  same  subject  says  so  and  so.  May  he  ever  enjoy 
Thy  blessed  vision  who,  by  Thy  inspiration,  has  spoken  of 
Thee  so  wisely  and  so  well.  But  to  me  it  seems  that  there 
is  such  or  such  a  distinction  :  pardon  my  arrogance,  0 
Lord  of  angels,  those  beings  drawn  out  of  time,  and  now 
tasting  of  eternity,  and  give  to  me,  a  sinner,  grace  to 
enjoy  it  one  day  with  them,  through  the  merits  of  Thine 
own  blood.  Amen."  In  this  way  he  would  go  on, 
mingling  his  speculations  with  devotions,  oft  rapt  in 
ecstasy,  whilst  his  auditors  heard  him  with  tears,  and 
a  feeling  of  solemn  awe,  as  though  listening  to  some 
superhuman  colloquy.  We  do  not  give  his  style  as  a 
model  for  the  imitation  of  theological  professsors,  but 
merely  to  illustrate  the  fact  that  at  this  peiod  of  sharp 
and  bitter"  controversy,  when  so  much  of  the  religious 
feeling  of  the  past  was  crumbling  away,  instances  were 
not  wanting  to  prove  that  the  Dominican  professor  was 
still  .onething  more  than  a  mere  man  of  letters,  and  was 
worthy  of  reckoning  his  descent  from  that  noble  ancestry 
of  the  13th  century  which  filled  the  lecture-rooms  of  the 
universities  with  beatified  saints. 


UtiAPTER  VI. 

Declension  of  religion  in  the  17th  century.  Distinguished  re- 
formers of  the  Order.  Sebastian  Michaelis.  Anthony  le 
Qnieu.  John  B.  Carre.  Cardinal  Howard.  Massoulie.  ISTa- 
talis  Alexander.  Distinguished  religious  women.  Juliana 
MoreUe.    Yittoria  Dolara. 

Although  it  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  the  effect 
of  the  revolution  of  the  lGth  century  was  eventually 
beneficial  to  the  Church,  and  brought  about  a  real 
reformation  within  her  pale,  of  a  different  character 
from  the  unhappy  schism  which  assumed  the  name,  yet 
neither  can  we  deny  that  its  immediate  results  were 
disastrous  and  ruinous  in  the  extreme.  "It  would  bo 
impossible  to  paint  in  too  lively  colours,"  says  Touron, 
"  the  injury  which  the  Church  received  in  the  16th 
century,  from  the  spirit  of  error  and  licentiousness 
which  was  supported  by  all  the  powers  of  hell."  Not 
to  speak  of  the  fatal  contagion  of  such  a  spirit,  the 
religious  orders  of  this  period  suffered  in  some  measure, 
as  they  had  done  during  ihe  great  plague  of  the  14th 
century,  and  with  something  of  a  similar  result.  Thou- 
sands of  religious  fell  under  the  swords  of  the  Huguenots 
and  German  sectaries,  and  the  gaps  left  by  their  removal 
were  not  easily  filled  up  ;  for  those  readiest  to  give  their 
lives  for  the  faith  were  sure  to  be  the  worthiest  members 
of  their  body.  All  men  are  not  purified  by  persecutions, 
and  when  Vincent  Giustiniani,  one  of  the  last  who  filled 
the  office  of  Provincial  of  England,  was  elected  to  the 
mastership  of  his  order,  he  found,  in  the  course  of  tho 
general  visitation,  together  with  much  of  noble  zeal  and 
fidelity  among  his  subjects,  many  tokens  of  relaxation 
and  decay.  We  have  sufficient  evidence  that  the  evil 
was  only  partial  ;  nevertheless,  we  know  that  even  S. 
Theresa,  in  the  description  she  gives  of  the  great  order, 
traditionally  interpreted  to  signify  that  of  S.  Dominic, 
2  A 


354  THE    DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

which  was  to  revive  in  the  latter  times  for  the  confusion 
of  heresy,  represents  it  as  being  in  her  day  in  the  com- 
mencement of  her  decline.  It  can  be  no  great  matter  of 
wonder  that  it  should  be  so,  for  it  is  with  the  religious 
orders  as  with  the  dynasties  and  kingdoms ;  they  rise  and 
fall,  and  their  history  is  full  of  variations.  The  order  of 
Friars  Preachers  was  certainly  neither  superanuated  nor 
effete  ;  but  its  greatest  era  was  past,  and  the  new  society 
of  Jesus,  fresh  in  the  vigour  of  a  young  foundation,  and  in 
the  full  fervour  of  its  first  generation  of  saints  and  heroic 
men,  in  some  degree  took  its  place,  and  became,  if  not  the 
most  popular,  at  least  the  all-powerful  order  of  the  two 
succeeding  centuries. 

Nevertheless,  this  period  of  partial  declension  was 
illustrated  by  the  zeal  of  many  bold  and  fervent  advo- 
cates of  religious  reform.  Whilst  Hippolitus  Beccaria 
ruled  the  order  and  toiled  with  unwearied  zeal  for  the 
universal  restoration  of  regular  discipline,  the  province 
of  Provence  was  governed  by  one  who  was  well  fitted  to 
carry  out  the  general's  designs.  This  was  F.  Sebastian 
Michaelis,  who  proposed  to  himself  nothing  short  of  an 
exact  return  to  the  spirit  and  discipline  of  the  first  ages. 
His  visitations  as  provincial  were  made  in  the  very 
spirit  and  method  of  those  of  S.  Dominic.  Perhaps  the 
historical  associations  of  his  province,  the  very  birth 
place  of  the  order,  and  the  scene  of  S.  Dominic's  first 
and  most  heroic  labours,  contributed  to  cherish  these 
feelings  ;  for  it  sounds  like  a  passage  out  of  the  life  of 
the  great  patriarch,  when  we  read  of  the  chapter  held  by 
Michaelis  at  Fangeaux,  the  scene  of  that  celebrated 
miracle  which  attested  the  triumph  of  S.  Dominic  over 
the  Albigenses.  Michaelis'  labours  were  not  without  fruit, 
and  the  communities  reformed  by  him,  especially  that 
of  Toulouse,  became,  as  in  old  time,  the  nurseries  of 
saints.  Indeed,  we  have  evidence  that  not  in  France 
only,  but  in  Spain,  and  Italy,  especially  at  Naples  and 
Salamanca,  the  reformed  convents  restored  the  regular 
observance  of  the  rule  with  a  severity  and  zeal  which  is 
truly  extraordinary.  We  have  F.  Marchese's  description 
of  the   convent  of  Salamanca,   of  which  he  was   himself 


DISTINGUISHED   REFORMERS.  355 

a  member;  and  our  readers  will  allow  that  the  religious 
spirit  was  not  yet  extinct  among  the  Friars  Preachers, 
whatever  may  have  been  the  partial  relaxation.  "In 
that  convent,"  he  says,  "the  happy  state  of  primitive 
religion  seemed  never  to  have  grown  old.  It  was  a 
perpetual  alternation  of  prayer  and  study,  so  that  the 
religious  were  always  employed  either  in  the  praises 
of  God,  or  in  attending  to  the  salvation  of  souls.  No 
indulgence  was  admitted  in  the  rigours  of  fasting,  Ibe 
exactness  of  inclosure,  or  the  observation  of  silence,  which 
last  was  indeed  but  little  felt;  for  the  work  was  so  cou- 
tinual  that  even  had  any  desired  to  speak  they  would  have 
found  no  time  to  do  so."  Some  of  the  most  interesting 
sketches  left  us  by  this  writer  are  of  the  Neapolitan 
religious  whom  he  had  himself  known,  and  whose  lives 
are  a  sufficient  evidence  that  the  cloisters  of  the  Friars 
Preachers  were  still  nurturing  chosen  souls  to  the  heroic 
degrees  of  sanctity, 

The  reformation  of  their  own  order  and  the  defence  of 
the  Church  against  the  progress  of  heresy  were  the  two 
objects  to  which  the  efforts  of  the  Dominicans  were  now 
directed ;  and  none  was  more  distinguished  for  his  zeal 
and  devotion  in  both  these  objects  than  the  celebrated 
Anthony  Le  Quieu,  who  embraced  the  religious  life  in 
the  convent  of  the  Annunciation,  founded  by  the  Pere 
Michaelis  as  the  model  house  of  his  reform.  In  this 
house  he  became  the  master  of  novices  to  many  of  those 
destined  eventually  to  revive  the  spirit  of  religion  through- 
out the  order ;  but  even  the  strict  observance  of  this 
foundation  did  not  satisfy  him,  and  his  ardent  tempera- 
ment was  ever  devising  schemes  of  new  establishments, 
wherein  the  exact  observance  of  the  constitutions  should 
be  united  to  an  apostolate  for  the  extinction  of  heresy  in 
every  province  where  the  new  convents  should  be  erected. 
We  can  scarcely  study  the  history  of  any  order  with- 
out being  forcibly  struck  by  the  singular  family  likeness 
that  exists  among  its  great  men :  we  see  not  only 
their  virtues,  but  their  infirmities  continually  reproduced, 
and  it  is  evident  that  the  same  rule  and  spirit  attracted 
tc  itself  men  of  congenial  natures.  If  one  may  systema- 
2  a2 


556  THE  DOMINICAN   ORDER 

tize  in  sueh  things,  we  should  be  inclined  to  say,  that 
a  certain  romance  and  enthusiasm,  sometimes  carrying 
its  possessors  beyond  the  bounds  of  discretion,  but 
always  noble  and  full  of  chivalry,  was  the  hereditary 
infirmity  of  the  Friars  Preachers  ;  it  sometimes  gave  to 
their  plans  of  perfection,  as  in  the  case  of  Bartholomew 
de  Las  Casas,  a  character  rather  ideal  than  practical,  and 
in  that,  of  Le  Quieu  eventually  led  him  to  go  beyond  the 
very  constitutions  whose  exact  observance  he  desired  to 
revive.  Nicholas  Rodolph,  the  general  of  the  order, 
entered  warmly  into  his  views,  and  after  receiving  the 
benediction  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  he  proceeded  to 
enter  on  his  work,  and  became  the  founder  of  six  convents 
in  various  provinces  of  France,  which  were  united  together 
under  the  title  of  "  the  Congregation  of  the  Blessed 
Sacrament."  In  these  we  must  particularly  admire  the 
way  in  which  he  succeeded  in  bringing  out  the  great  idea 
of  the  Dominican  institute  in  its  integrify  ;  namely,  its 
union  of  the  contemplative  and  the  apostolic  life  ;  his 
religious  were  men  of  prayer  and  men  of  preaching,  and 
in  the  description  left  us  of  these  convents,  as  in  those 
founded  by  Michaelis,  we  seem  to  see  a  reproduction 
of  the  early  foundations  of  S.  Dominic.  The  indiscretion 
of  Le  Quieu  to  which  we  have  alluded  consisted  in  his 
desire  to  introduce  the  custom  of  going  barefooted  ;  a 
practice  which  had  never  existed  in  the  order,  or  formed 
any  part  of  its  rule,  and  which  would  inevitably  have  led 
to  some  separation  from  the  main  body  of  the  order,  and 
thus  have  deprived  it  of  what  has  been  one  of  its  greatest 
glories  and  privileges,  its  unbroken  unity.  The  scheme 
was,  however,  overruled  by  the  authority  of  the  general, 
and  Le  Quieu  was  in  future  obliged  to  content  himself 
with  the  degree  of  poverty  and  austerity  prescribed  by 
his  rule. 

Ten  years  before  his  death  he  commenced  his  apostolic 
missions  in  the  territory  of  Geneva.  The  heretics  of  the 
south  of  France  had  already  learnt  to  fear  him,  as  onoo 
their  forefathers  had  feared  the  preaching  of  S.  Dominic, 
and  now  the  whole  diocese  of  Annecy  (whither  the 
bishops  of  Geneva  had  removed  their   episcopal  see)  felt 


F.   ANTHONY   LE   QUIEU.  357 

the  influence  of  this  extraordinary  man.  "  Wherever  he 
preached,"  gays  his  biographer,  the  Pere  Archange,  "he 
introduced  the  devotion  of  the  Forty  Hours.  He 
preached  twice  and  sometimes  three  times  every  day,  and 
would  spend  ten  or  twelve  hours  in  the  confessional, 
passing  the  nights  on  the  altar-step.  His  repast  was 
only  a  handful  of  bread,  and  he  might  often  have  been 
found  on  the  wayside  taking  it  by  the  margin  of  some 
running  stream  which  supplied  his  drink,  and  this  when 
he  was  seventy-five  years  of  age."  His  singular  devotion 
to  the  Blessed  Sacrament  led  to  his  forming  a  foundation 
for  the  express  purpose  of  promoting  its  honour.  This 
was  a  convent  of  nuns  of  the  Perpetual  Adoration  estab- 
lished at  Marseilles  in  1659,  and  one  of  the  first  establish- 
ments of  the  kind  of  which  we  find  any  notice  in  history.* 
They  followed  the  rule  of  S.  Austin,  with  constitutions  of 
their  own  given  them  by  Le  Quieu,  which  were  approved 
by  the  Holy  See.  This  convent  still  existed  at  the  period 
when  Touron  wrote  his  history. 

The  only  other  of  these  modern  reformers  whom  we 
will  mention  is  F.  John  Baptist  Carre,  the  founder  of  the 
Noviciate-General  of  Paris,  who,  like  Le  Quieu,  was  a 
disciple  of  the  reform  of  Michaelis,  and  had  received  his 
religious  education  in  his  convent  at  Toulouse.  He  also 
filled  the  same  office  of  novice-master  at  the  Annunciation, 
and  in  1632  the  admirable  scheme  for  the  establishment  of 
one  noviciate  for  the  whole  of  the  French  provinces  was 
carried  out,  and  placed  under  his  management  by  Nicholas 
Rodolph    the    general   of   the    order.       Indeed    at    this 


«  We  say  one  of  the  first,  for  the  first  convent  of  this  description 
was  undoubtedly  that  founded  in  Paris  in  the  year  1653  by 
Caiherine  de  Barr.  under  the  patronage  of  Anne  of  Austria. 
Thi3  community  followed  the  ,Benedictine  rule.  Marchese  men- 
tions a  convent  of  Dominican  friars  in  Spain  about  the  same  time, 
where  the  Perpetual  Adoration  was  kept  up.  In  fact,  devotion  to 
the  Most  Holy  Sacrament  has  always  been  a  distinguished  feature 
of  the  order  of  Preachers:  we  find  the  arch-confraternity  of  the 
Blessed  Sacrament  established  at  the  Minerva  by  Paul  III.  in 
153J,  from  which  other  branch-confraternities  took  their  rise, 
though  that  of  S.  Martin  at  Liege  was  probably  of  yet  earliei 
origin. 


358  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

period  France  may  be  considered  as  the  rallying  ground 
of  the  Dominican  Institute.  In  spite  of  the  spread 
of  Jansenism,  and  the  attacks  on  the  liberties  of  the 
Church  which  mark  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  France 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  there  was  probably  no  age 
when  the  ranks  of  her  clergy  were  filled  with  more  illus- 
trious members.  Among  these  the  most  distinguished 
of  ajl  may  be  claimed  by  the  order  of  S.  Dominic,  of 
whioh  he  was  a  professed  tertiary.  We  allude  to  M. 
Olier,  the  founder  of  the  seminary  of  S.  Sulpice,  and  one 
whose  influence  over  the  society  of  his  day  was  of  the 
most  extraordinary  kind.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
sanctification  of  this  great  man,  and  his  devotion  to  the 
work  which  afterwards  produced  such  vast  results  on  the 
whole  body  of  the  French  clergy,  has  been  formally 
acknowledged  by  many  of  the  Sulpician  ecclesiastics  as 
principally  owing  to  the  influence  of  the  Venerable  Agnes 
of  Jesus.  Perhaps  it  was  his  close  connection  with  this 
celebrated  religious  of  the  Dominican  order  that  moved 
him  with  the  desire  to  attach  himself  to  the  same  institute. 
As  he  knelt  to  receive  the  scapular  in  the  chapel  of  S. 
Sulpice,  we  are  told  that  "  he  confessed  with  lively  emotion 
that  he  owed  every  grace  he  had  up  to  that  time  received 
to  the  order  of  S.  Dominic."  "lam  rejoiced,"  he  added, 
"  to  see  myself  a  child  of  S.  Dominic,  and  more  than  ever 
a  brother  of  the  revered  Mother  Agnes  of  Jesus,  to 
whom  I  owe  so  much."  Following  his  example,  many 
other  priests  of  the  seminary  entered  the  third  order  about 
the  same  time. 

Whilst  speaking  of  those  who  reformed  the  order,  the 
English  Dominicans  ought  never  to  forget  one  to  whom 
they  owe  in  no  small  degree  the  restoration  of  its  existence 
among  themselves.  This  was  Philip  Thomas  Howard, 
one  of  the  noble  house  of  Norfolk  who  entered  the  order 
in  the  year  1645,  and  during  the  Protectorate  of  Crom- 
well founded  a  monastery  of  English  friars  at  Bornheim 
in  Flanders,  and  a  convent  of  nuns  of  the  second  order  at 
Vilvorde,  which  was  afterwards  removed  to  Brussels,*  his 

-:<-  We  have  called  Sister  Antoinette  Howard,  sister  to  the  cardinal, 
on  the  authority  of  Touron,  but  by  the  unpublished  manuscript 


ANTOINETTE  HOWARD.  359 

own  sister  Antoinete  Howard  being  the  first  of  the 
English  nation  who  offered  herself  to  join  the  proposed 
foundation.  At  the  French  revolution  in  the  following 
century,  when  so  many  religious  communities  took  refuge 
in  England,  these  two  houses  were  broken  up,  and  their 
inmates  settled  in   our    own  land,    which   thus   saw  the 


memoirs  of  the  community  of  Vilvorde  (now  settled  at  Atherstone 
in  Warwichshire),  it  would  not  appear  that  she  was  so  nearly  related 
to  him. 

She  was  out  sixteen  years  of  age  when  she  took  the  habit,  hav- 
ing removed  from  the  convent  of  Tempes  with  two  of  the  religious 
of  that  commuunity,  for  the  purpose  of  commencing  the  new  foun- 
dation. "  She  was  the  first  Englishwoman,"  says  the  MS.,  "that 
had  taken  the  habit  of  the  holy  father  since  the  unhappy  fall  of 
religion  in  England.  A  short  time  of  her  noviceship  passed  when 
it  pleased  God  to  try  her  with  a  grievous  sickness  ;  and  He  rewarded 
her  virtuous  intentions  and  fervent  desires  to  be  consecrated  to 
Him  in  holy  religion,  with  a  clear  sight  of  His  Sacred  Mother, 
the  ever-blessed  Virgin,  about  an  hour  before  her  happy  death, 
which  took  place  on  the  8th  day  of  October,  1661,  four  months  after 
she  took  the  holy  habit."  After  some  particulars  of  her  illness, 
the  account  continues  as  follows  :  "  A  little  while  after,  she  fell 
into  a  trance,  in  which  for  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  she  ap- 
peared quite  dead  ;  then  smiling,  she  opened  her  eyes  with  great 
signs  of  joy,  and  presently  after  fell  into  another  trance,  which 
lasted  not  so  long,  but  by  the  signs  of  joy  and  satisfaction  far  ex- 
ceeded that  that  she  had  showed  before ;  this  moved  the  father 
confessor  to  ask  her  the  cause  of  her  joy,  to  which  she  made  no 
reply,  but  looked  upon  him  and  us  that  were  by  her  very  cheerfully 
and  made  some  signs  with  her  hand  which  we  could  not  understand. 
Then  her  confessor,  much  surprised  to  see  this  strange  satisfaction, 
so  very  unusual  at  such  a  time,  said  thus  to  her,  "  Child,  I  command 
you  in  virtue  of  holy  obedience,  to  declare  the  cause  of  your  joy  at 
this  dreadful  time,  when  you  are  going  to  give  a  strict  account  of 
every  thought,  word,  and  deed,  which  God  exacts  with  such 
severity  that  the  greatest  saints  have  trembled  to  think  of  it." 
She,  without  any  change  of  countenance,  answered,  "  I  see  it." 
"  Child,"  said  the  father,  "  what  do  you  see  ?  tell  what  you  see.' 
She  said,  "  I  see  our  Blessed  Lady  with  a  crown  in  one  hand  and 
a  rosary  in  the  other — a  fine  crown."  "  Child,"  said  the  father, 
"  have  a  care  what  you  say  ;  do  you  see  our  Blessed  Lady  ?  "  She 
very  cheerfully  replied,  "  Yes,  I  do  see  our  Blessed  Lady  with  a 
fine  crown  and  rosary,  0  !  fine  crown  !  0 1  fine  rosary !  I  desire 
to  see  no  more  of  this  world."  Then  the  Confessor  (F.  William 
Collings)  said  to  her,  "  Child,  would  you  have  the  absolution 
of  the  rosary  ?"  She  answered,  "'I  made  signs  for  it  many  times 
when  I  could  not  speak."  Then  devoutly  preparing  herself  to  re- 
ceive it,  he  gave  it  to  her,  and  presently  after,  with  a  pleasant 
smiling  countenance,  she  left  this  wretched  life  to  pass  to  eternal 
felicity  — She  was  professed  on  her  death-bed. 


360  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

restoration  of  the  order  just  two  hundred  years  after  the 
nuns  of  Dartford  had  been  driven  from  her  shores  in  the 
manner  we  have  described.  F.  Howard  was  raised  to 
the  purple  in  1675,  and  at  the  instance  of  James  II.  was 
afterwards  declared  Cardinal  Protector  of  England. 
He  was  also  the  founder  of  a  new  college  at  Louvain 
in  favour  of  religious  of  his  own  order  and  nation. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  opinions 
of  the  Quiet ists  began  to  trouble  the  Church  ;  their 
errors  had  long  before  been  minutely  described  and  con- 
futed by  Taulerus  ;  and  in  their  modern  form  they  found 
a  vigorous  opponent  in  Pere  Anthony  Massouli6.  the 
enthusiastic  defender  of  S.  Thomas,  whose  principles  of 
theology  are  the  weapons  he  uses,  in  his  celebrated  trea- 
tises on  prayer,  and  the  love  of  God,  to  condemn  the 
erroneous  doctrines  of  his  adversaries.  Other  writers  of 
the  greatest  eminence  flourished  about  this  time  :  among 
whom  we  may  notice  Goar,  the  illustrious  convert  from 
the  Greek  schism,  but,  in  particular,  the  theologian  and 
ecclesiastical  historian,  Natalis  Alexander,  whose  works 
were  declared  by  Cardinal  Orsini  to  be  a  library  in 
themselves. 

We  find  among  the  literary  notices  of  this  century  the 
name  of  one  writer,  whose  celebrity  is  of  so  curious  a 
kind  that  we  shall  not  hesitate  to  give  her  story  at  length. 
It  is  well  known  that  not  a  few  of  the  religious  women  of 
the  Dominican  order  have  in  all  ages  maintained  the 
character  of  their  institute  for  learning  and  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  arts,  and  have  found  means  to  unite  these 
pursuits  to  the  virtues  of  their  vocation  in  a  truly  admir- 
able manner.  We  have  alluded  to  the  two  sisters, 
Plautilla  and  Petronilla  Nelli,  the  painter  and  authoress, 
of  the  Ruccellai  convent  at  Florence.  During  the  same 
century  a  singular  amount  of  talent  was  to  be  found  in 
convents  of  the  female  Dominicans.  The  nuns  of 
Florence  were  among  the  earliest  and  most  zealous 
encouragers  of  the  art  of  printing.  Their  spiritual 
director,  Fra  Domenico  of  Pistoja,  established  a  printing- 
press  in  their  convent,  which  they  worked  with  their  own 
hands.     Marchese  mentions  Sister  Aurelia  Fiorentini,  of 


JULIANA   MORELLE.  361 

the  convent  of  Lncca,  one  of  whose  paintings  may  yet  be 
seen  over  the  high  altars  of  S.  Dominic's  Church  in  that 
city,  where  it  was  placed  after  the  removal  of  the 
Madonna  della  Misericordia,  the  chef  cCceuvre  of  Fra 
Bartolomeo.  Besides  a  great  many  of  other  female 
painters  whose  names  have  been  recorded  by  Marchese, 
the  convent  of  Prato,  celebrated  as  that  of  S.  Catherine 
of  Ricei,  was  the  residence  of  the  well-known  elegiac 
poetess,  Lorenza  Strozzi,  of  whom  Echard  has  given  a 
long  and  interesting  account.  After  her  entrace  into 
religion  she  applied  herself  to  the  study  of  languages, 
and  became  a  perfect  mistress  both  of  Greek  and  Latin. 
Her  Latin  hymns  and  sapphics,  for  the  feasts  of  the 
Church,  have  been  translated  into  French  verse,  and  were 
much  esteemed.  But  the  learning  of  Sister  Lorenza 
fades  into  nothing  by  the  side  of  that  of  Juliana  Morelle, 
to  whom  we  made  allusion  above.  She  was  a  native  of 
Barcelona  ;  and  previous  to  her  entrance  into  religion, 
her  father,  Anthony  Morelle,  applied  himself  to  the 
task  of  cultivating  her  natural  talents  by  devoting  her  to 
a  course  of  study  very  unusual  in  those  of  her  sex.  We 
are  told  that  when  only  twelve  years  old  she  spoke 
Castilian,  French,  Italian,  Greek,  and  Hebrew,  with  per- 
fect facility.  She  employed  nine  hours  every  day  in 
study,  and  attained  such  eminence  in  the  sciences  of 
logic,  and  of  physical  and  moral  philosophy,  that  in  1607 
(she  being  then  but  thirteen  years  of  age),  she  sustained 
public  theses  of  philosophy  at  Lyons,  and  which  were 
afterwards  published,  and  dedicated  to  Margaret  of 
Austria.  Besides  these  acquirements,  she  studied  meta- 
physics, jurisprudence,  and  music.  Her  father  wished 
her  to  take  her  degree  as  Doctress  in  Law,  and  for  this 
purpose  conducted  her  to  Avignon.  The  whole  city  was 
stirred  at  the  news  of  her  arrival,  and  the  most  distin- 
guished persons  of  either  sex  were  eager  to  see  and  speak 
with  her.  By  her  wisdom  and  erudition,  but  far  more 
by  her  singular  modesty  and  humility,  she  excited  general 
admiration ;  and  the  vice-legate  of  Avignon,  wishing  to 
have  some  proof  of  her  learning,  appointed  a  day  for  a 
public  disputation  to  be  held  at  his  palace,  in  the  presence 


362  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

of  the  Duchess  of  Conde,  and  a  crowd  of  illustrious  ecclesi- 
astics and  religious,  with  other  persons  of  rank  and 
eminence.  Juliana  for  the  second  time  was  obliged  to 
defend  the  public  theses,  answering  every  argument  and 
objection  of  her  opponents  with  so  much  depth  and  readi- 
ness as  to  astonish  all  who  listened.  Nevertheless,  in  the 
midst  of  all  the  flattery  which  was  heaped  upon  her,  her 
humility  never  once  gave  way ;  and  the  simplicity  and 
sanctity  which  were  observable  in  her  conduct  rendered  her 
far  more  worthy  of  applause  than  did  the  learning  on 
which  her  father  and  the  public  set  so  high  a  value.  She 
very  early  took  the  resolution  of  retiring  from  the  eyes  of 
the  world,  and  entering  religion  ;  and  took  the  veil  in  the 
convent  of  S.  Praxedes,  at  Avignon,  when  only  fifteen 
years  of  age  ;  so  brief  had  been  the  career  that  created  so 
extraordinary  a  renown. 

Probably  some  of  our  readers  may  have  formed  no 
favourable  idea  of  the  young  doctress  and  public  disputant, 
but  they  must  surely  admire  the  purity  and  true  spiri- 
tuality of  a  soul  that  could  unite  such  gifts,  and  a 
reputation  so  uncommon,  to  the  virtues  of  a  religious 
vocation.  They  must  forgive  Juliana  her  learning,  should 
that  be  an  offence  in  their  eyes,  when  they  hear  how  she 
bore  herself  in  her  religious  probation.  In  the  midst  of 
the  most  humbling  trials  to  which  her  superiors  con- 
sidered it  right  to  subject  her,  in  order  to  prove  her 
vocation,  and  to  prevent  her  from  being  puffed  up  by  her 
extraordinary  knowledge,  she  always  showed  herself 
equally  humble,  patient,  submissive,  and  grateful  to  all. 
She  never  exercised  her  talents  save  with  permission 
of  her  superiors,  or  for  the  service  of  the  sisters.  When, 
in  order  to  test  her,  they  would  show  contempt  for  the 
explanations  she  gave  of  anything,  Juliana  lost  nothing  of 
her  customary  sweetness  and  humility.  She  was  a 
most  exact  observer  of  her  rule,  and  was  several  times 
elected  novice-mistress  and  prioress  of  her  community, 
always  discharging  these  offices  with  a  union  of  zeal, 
sweetness,  and  spiritual  wisdom.  She  had  a  great  love 
to  the  poor,  anc!.  distributed  to  them  everything  in  her 
power   to   give.      At   length,    after   twenty-five   years    oi 


VITTORIA  DOLARA.  363 

constant  sickness,  she  died  in  1653,  and  several  miracu- 
lous cures  were  attributed  to  her  after  her  death.  "  This 
great  religious,"  continues  the  author  of  the  Dictionnaire 
UniverseUej  "  whom  several  learned  authors  have  not 
hesitated  to  call  the  honour  of  her  sex,  the  wonder  of  her 
age,  the  glory  of  her  monastery,  and  one  of  the  brightest 
ornaments  of  her  order,  has  left  several  devout  works. 
Amongst  these  are  a  'Retreat  of  ten  days  on  Eternity,' 
a  beautiful  commentary  on  the  '  Treatise  on  the  Spiritual 
Life'  of  S.  Vincent  Ferrer,  together  with  a  commentary 
on  the  rule  of  S.  Austin,  some  Latin  prayers,  and  a  history 
of  the  reform  of  her  monastery  of  S.  Praxedes.  Besides 
these,  she  wrote  a  brief  exposition  of  the  dispositions 
proper  for  religious  profession."  She  is  spoken  of  in 
terms  of  eulogy  by  Lopez  de  Vega,  and  several  other 
writers.  Later  in  the  same  century,  Sister  Maria  Villani, 
of  the  convent  at  Naples,  attained  a  yet  higher  reputation 
as  mystic  writer.  Few  biographies  can  rival  hers  in 
beauty  and  interest,  for  she  was  of  most  saintly  life.  She 
left  "  eleven  large  volumes  full  of  the  profoundest  doc- 
trine," says  E  chard,  who  gives  a  list  of  her  works  in 
his  "History  of  the  Dominican  writers,"  where  we  shall 
find  an  interesting  notice  of  all  the  illustrious  women  of 
the  order. 

Their  reputation  has  been  supported  nearer  our  own 
time  by  Sister  Anna  Vittoria  Dolara,  prioress  of  the 
monastery  of  S.  Mary  Magdalen  on  Monte  Cavallo, 
founded  by  Magdalen  Orsini,  and  now  inhabited  by  the 
nuns  of  the  Perpetual  Adoration.  She  was  alike  remark- 
able for  her  piety,  her  poetical  genius,  and  her  excellence 
as  a  painter.  When  Pius  VI.  was  carried  into  exile  by 
the  soldiers  of  the  French  republic,  they  spared  the  con- 
vent of  the  sisters,  but  at  the  same  time  stripped  it  of  all 
means  of  support.  Vittoria  Dolara  contrived  in  this 
emergency  to  raise  a  sufficient  subsistence  for  herself  and 
her  sisters  by  incessant  application  to  her  pencil,  and  it 
was  during  this  period  of  suffering  that  she  wrote  the 
"Complaint  of  the  Roman  Virgins,"  a  little  poem  of 
singular  beauty  and  pathos.  "This  accomplished  nun," 
says   Marchese,    "  possessed   a  considerable  knowledge   of 


364  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

Latin;  she  was  also  well  skilled  in  vocal  and  instrumental 
music,  and  was  wont  to  cheer  her  afflicted  sisters  with  her 
melodious  strains.  Pius  VII.,  who  held  Sister  Dolara  in 
the  highest  esteem,  often  visited  her,  and  more  than  once 
sat  to  her  for  his  portrait.  These  likenesses  were  admir- 
ably painted,  and  Leo  XII.  conferred  a  similar  honor  on 
this  ornament  of  the  cloister.  Thus  were  all  the  accom- 
plishments of  Plautilla  Nelli  the  paintress,  and  Lorenza 
Strozzi  the  poetess,  revived  in  the  person  of  the  gifted 
Dolara."     She  died  in  1827,  aged  63  years. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Pontificate  of  Benedict  XIII.    Missions  and  Martyrs  of  China. 
Dominican  Saints.     Conclusion. 

On  the  death  of  Innocent  XIII.  in  1724,  the  fourth 
and  last  pontiff  of  the  Dominican  order  ascended  the 
chair  of  S.  Peter,  in  the  person  of  Cardinal  Orsini, 
archbishop  of  Benevento,  who  assumed  the  title  of 
Benedict  XIII.  His  pontificate,  which  lasted  six  years, 
was  chiefly  remarkable,  like  those  of  his  predecessors,  for 
its  measures  of  peace  and  conciliation ;  and,  we  may  add, 
for  the  singular  zeal  displayed  by  the  venerable  Father 
in  the  discharge,  not  only  of  pontifical,  but  of  pastoral 
functions.  The  times  were  not  heroic;  and  there  was 
little  opportunity  for  a  display  of  great  or  brilliant 
qualities;  nevertheless,  there  is  a  character  of  touching 
simplicity  in  the  narrative  of  Benedict's  career,  which 
supplies  for  the  want  of  more  striking  interest.  But  if 
the  Church  history  of  Europe  in  the  eighteenth  century  . 
was  in  some  degree  wanting  in  sublimity,  the  same  could 
not  be  said  of  her  missionary  annals.  We  have  neces- 
sarily been  compelled  to  pass  over  in  silence  much  that 


MARTYRS   OP   CHINA.  <365 

exhibits  the  order  of  Friars  Preachers  to  us  in  its 
grandest  character,  as  one  of  the  chief  apostolic  bodies 
existing  in  the  Church.  Nevertheless,  the  missions  and 
martyrdoms  of  China  which  took  place  during  the  ponti- 
ficate of  Benedict  XIII.  form  so  very  remarkable  a 
portion  of  her  history,  that  we  cannot  omit  som«  notice  of 
them  in  this  place. 

The  number  of  Christians  in  China  had  been  greatly 
increased  during  the  course  of  the  seventeenth  century 
by  the  labours  of  the  missionaries  of  various  religious 
orders,  especially  of  the  Jesuits  and  Dominicans.  Among 
the  latter,  John  Baptist  Morales,  Dominic  Navaretto,  and 
Gregory  Lopez,  a  native  Chinese,  who  entered  the  order 
of  Preachers,  and  became  the  first  of  his  nation  elevated 
to  the  Christian  episcopacy,  had  evangelized  a  vast  tract 
of  country,  which  retained  its  hold  of  the  faith  in  spite 
of  the  cruel  persecutions  to  which  the  new  converts  were 
subjected.  It  was  in  1715  that  Peter  Martyr  Sanz  set 
foot  on  the  soil  of  China ;  and  after  the  course  of  a  few 
years  he  was  consecrated  bishop  of  Mauricastro,  just  at 
the  time  when  a  new  persecution  of  the  Christians  was 
in  contemplation  by  the  government.  The  number  of 
converts  made  by  Sanz  and  his  companions  was  alto- 
gether extraordinary,  and  the  rage  of  the  Chinese 
magistrates  was  the  more  excited  from  the  circumstance 
of  many  of  the  highest  rank  being  among  their  disciples. 
But  what  gave  a  singular  and  striking  character  to  the 
apostolic  labours  of  the  bishop  of  Mauricastro,  was  his 
success  in  winning  the  Chinese  not  merely  to  embrace 
the  Christian  faith,  but  to  aim  at  the  highest  grades  of 
perfection.  The  number  of  Christian  virgins  desirous  of 
consecrating  themselves  by  vow  to  God  was  so  great,  as 
to  recall  the  days  of  the  primitive  Church,  and  Sanz 
knew  no  better  way  of  meeting  their  wishes,  and  giving 
a  lasting  character  to  the  religious  feeling  which  had 
been  excited  among  them,  than  by  the  establishment  of 
the  third  branch  of  his  own  order,  whose  habit  was 
accordingly  received  by  a  very  considerable  number  of  the 
new  converts. 

A  very   extraordinary  revival  of  fervour  followed  on 


366  ?HE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

this  step,  but  the  Christians  were  not  long  left  in 
tranquillity.  In  the  month  of  June,  1746,  the  bishop 
and  his  four  companions  were  seized  and  carried  before 
the  tribunals,  whilst  at  the  same  time  eleven  holy  women 
of  the  third  order,  suspected  of  having  assisted  and  con- 
cealed the  missionaries,  were  likewise  arrested.  The 
Chinese  seem  on  this  occasion  to  have  lost  the  timidity 
which  so '  generally  distinguishes  them.  They  evinced 
their  fidelity  to  their  pastors  by  signs  of  the  most 
extraordinary  attachment.  They  followed  them  on  the 
road  to  Focheu,  the  capital  of  the  province,  kissing  their 
chains  and  habits,  and  refusing  to  be  driven  away. 
"These  Christians,"  said  one  of  the  governors,  "honour 
the  Europeans  as  though  they  were  gods,  or  their  own 
fathers."  At  Focheu  they  were  examined  under  the 
torture.  The  courageous  answers  of  the  Christian 
virgins  were  worthy  of  the  saints  of  the  primitive  ages ; 
five  of  them,  after  enduring  cruel  torments,  were  sent 
back  to  their  own  homes ;  the  rest  were  condemned  to 
the  cangue,  and  other  punishments,  but  their  lives  were 
spared.  As  to  the  bishop,  he  was  adjudged  worthy  of 
death,  "  for  perverting  the  souls  of  men ; "  and  after 
being  tormented  in  the  most  barbarous  manner,  beaten, 
and  torn  on  the  face  with  iron-pointed  gauntlets,  the 
sentence  was  carried  into  execution  on  the  26th  of  May, 
1747.  This  glorious  martyrdom  received  additional  lustre 
from  the  manner  in  which  it  was  commemorated  by  the 
supreme  pontiff,  Benedict  XIV.,  who,  in  a  secret  con- 
sistory held  in  the  September  of  the  following  year, 
pronounced  a  magnificent  allocution  on  the  death  of 
Peter  Sanz.  By  many  he  was  regarded  as  the  proto- 
martyr  of  China,  but  the  Pope  corrects  this  error, 
adjudging  that  honour  to  belong  to  another  of  his 
order  who  had  suffered  in  the  previous  century,  F.  Francis 
de  Capillas. 

The  names  of  the  four  companions  of  the  bishop 
deserve  our  remembrance;  they  were  Francis  Serrano, 
Joachim  Boyo,  John  Alcober,  and  Francis  Diaz.  When 
the  holy  prelate  was  condemned  to  death,  the  same 
sentence    was     pronounced     on    the    other    missionaries, 


MARTYRS   OF   CHINA.  367 

and  cut,  in  Chinese  characters,  on  their  faces.  They 
were,  nevertheless,  detained  for  twenty-eight  months  in 
prison,  at  the  end  of  which  time  they  were  secretly 
strangled.  During  this  time  the  persecution  was  chiefly 
directed  against  the  Chinese  Tertiaries,  whose  number 
was  very  great.  We  read  of  one  noble  confessor  of  the 
faith,  himself  enrolled  in  the  order,  by  name  Lin  Mat- 
thias, whose  three  daughters  were  all  consecrated  to  God 
under  the  habit  of  S.  Dominic.  In  vain  did  the  man- 
darins call  on  him  to  abandon  his  profession,  and  give 
his  daughters  in  marriage.  "  I  will  never  renounce  the 
holy  law  of  God,"  was  his  reply,  "  nor  give  my  daughters 
in  marriage,  who  are  devoted  to  serve  God  in  holy  vir- 
ginity." It  is  with  a  singular  interest  that  we  follow  the 
story  of  these  brethren  and  sisters  of  the  order  among 
the  native  Chinese,  whose  devotion  and  heroic  charity 
are  the  reproduction  of  the  virtues  of  those  whose  names 
they  bore.  One  admirable  woman  expired  under  repeated 
torture,  and  the  sisters  of  the  third  order  at  Lienha,  where 
she  died,  braved  every  danger  to  gather  round  her  bed  and 
tend  her  in  her  last  moments.  Many  of  them  were  driven 
into  exile  ;  others  were  cast  into  prison  and  cruelly  insulted. 
Some  seem  to  have  been  living  together  in  a  kind  of 
community,  for  we  find  a  letter  from  the  manderin  charged 
with  the  conduct  of  the  persecution,  describing  his  entrance 
into  a  house  inhabited  by  four  devout  women,  named 
Ursula,  Lucy,  Petronille,  and  Isabella,  where  he  had 
seized  books,  images  and  rosaries,  belonging  to  their 
"  perverse  law  ;"  and  it  is  evident  that  whole  families  of 
the  Christian  converts  of  the  mart}rred  missionaries  were 
united  in  the  fellowship  of  the  order.  The  particular  fate 
of  each  of  these  has  not  been  preserved  ;  but  though  few 
probably  actually  suffered  death,  they  must  in  some  sort 
find  a  place  in  our  commemoration  of  the  Dominican 
martyrs  of  China. 

Even  in  our  own  day  the  order  has  given  its  blood  to 
the  same  ungrateful  soil.  The  whole  province  of  eastern 
Tong-King  may  be  considered  as  a  Dominican  mission ; 
and  it  was  there  that  in  1838,  Ignatius  Delgado, 
who  had  laboured  as  vicar-apostolic  of  the  province   for 


368  THE  DOMINICAN  ORDER. 

forty  years,  expired  in  prison  from  the  effect  of  his  suffer- 
ings ;  while  his  companion  and  coadjutor,  Dominic 
Henarez,  with  several  religious  of  the  order,  was  beheaded 
a  few  days  later.  Seven  members  of  the  third  order 
likewise  gave  their  blood  for  Christ  at  the  same  time* 
One  of  these,  Joseph  Cank,  an  old  man  of  seventy,  insisted 
on  going  to  the  place  of  execution  clothed  in  the  white 
habit  of  his  order.  Five  others  were  only  novices,  and  not 
being  able  to  receive  the  missionary  of  the  district  in  their 
prison,  they  sent  him  their  profession  in  a  letter  ;  this  was 
in  the  August  of  1839.  Our  readers  will  peruse  the 
simple  expression  of  their  fervour  and  faith  with  no  com- 
mon interest.  "  We  are,  all  five,  novices  of  the  third 
order,"  they  write,  "and  we  can  observe  the  fasts  pre- 
scribed by  our  rule  on  most  days,  but  not  always.  "We, 
therefore,  beg  the  father  to  extend  some  indulgence  to 
us,  and  to  pardon  his  children.  Moreover,  we  entreat  to 
be  allowed  to  make  our  profession  according  to  the 
said  rule  of  the  third  order  ;  and  we  conjure  the  father 
to  admit  and  receive  our  professions,  here  written,  as 
if  we  made  it  in  his  hands.  Therefore,  to  the  honour 
of  Almighty  God,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  we,  Fran- 
cis Xavier,  Dominic,  Thomas,  Agustin,  and  Stephen,  in 
your  presence,  Reverend  Father  Juan,  in  the  place  of  the 
Most  Reverend  Master-General  of  the  order  of  Friars 
Preachers,  and  of  the  third  order  of  Penance  of  S.  Domi- 
nic, make  profession,  and  promise  to  live  acccording  to  the 
rule  and  constitutions  of  the  third  order  of  S.  Dominic, 
even  until  death." 

"  Is  it  not  a  touching  spectacle,"  says  Pere  Jandel, 
the  present  general  of  the  order,  in  his  preface  to  the  rule 
of  the  Tertiaries,  "  to  see  five  young  men,  subjected  for 
more  than  a  year  to  all  the  horrors  of  a  cruel  captivity, 
accusing  themselves  and  begging  pardon  for  not  always 
observing  the  fasts  and  abstinences  of  their  rule  with 
sufficient  exactitude."  A  great  number  of  infidels  im- 
prisoned with  these  generous  confessors  of  the  faith 
were  instructed  and  baptized  by  them,  and  afterwards 
shared  their  martyrdom,  which  took  place  at  length 
eighteeen  months  after  their  first  arrest.     They  were  all 


ITS  SAINTS.  369 

strangled,  invoking  the  name  of  Jesus,  on  the  19th  of 
December,  1839.  These  seven  Tertiaries  were  declared 
venerable  by  Gregory  XVI.,  who,  imitating  the  example 
of  Benedict  XIV.,  pronounced  the  eulogy  of  all  the 
martyrs  of  the  persecution,  in  a  secret  consistory  held  in 
February,  1840.  He  gave  his  approval  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  their  process  of  beatification  and  canonization  in 
the  June  following,  confirmed  by  a  later  decree  in  1843 ; 
so  that  it  is  probable  that  at  some  future  day  the  order 
will  be  enabled  to  venerate  those  heroic  martyrs  with  the 
highest  honours  of  the  Church 

Our  task  is  well-nigh  ended.  Not,  indeed,  that  we 
pretend  to  have  offered  in  these  hurried  and  imperfect 
notices  anything  like  a  complete  sketch  of  the  Dominican 
order — hardly  even  so  much  as  to  have  indicated  the 
direction  in  which  it?  most  illustrious  men  are  apt  to  be 
found.  Least  of  all  have  we  in  the  foregoing  pages 
given  any  idea  of  that  which  constitutes  the  true  great- 
ness of  an  order,  namely,  the  calendar  of  its  saints. 
Yet  even  this  is  scarcely  to  be  taken  as  the  fair  measure  of 
its  sanctity.  "  Count  the  stars  if  thou  art  able,"  was 
the  reply  given  by  one  of  the  Roman  pontiffs  to  a  person 
who  asked  him  the  number  of  the  Dominican  saints. 
They  include  a  vast  variety;  men  and  women  of  all 
ranks  and  all  countries,  and  all  phases  and  developments 
of  holiness,  high  and  low,  active  and  contemplative;  yet 
all  with  the  generic  Dominican  character  of  heroic  zeal 
for  souls 

Twelve,  besides  the  great  patriarch  himself,  have  re- 
ceived canonization;  namely,  S.  Hyacinth,  S.  Raymond 
Pennafort,  S.  Peter  Martyr,  S.  Thomas  Aquinas,  S.  Vin- 
cent Ferrer,  S.  Antoninus,  S.  Louis  Bertrand,  S.  Pius  V., 
S.  Catherine  of  Siena,  S.  Agnes  of  Monte  Pulciano  S. 
Catherine  Ricci,  and  S.  Rose  of  Lima.  Sixty-six  have 
received  the  inferior  order  of  beatification,  twenty  of 
whom  are  women.  Three  of  the  canonized  female  saints 
are  elaimed  by  the  third  order,  with  seventeen  of  those 
beatified ;  whilst  among  the  men,  B.  Martin  Porres,  and 
B.  Albert  of  Bergamo,  were  also  Tertiaries.  The  rest 
2  B 


370  THE   DOMINICAN   ORDER. 

belong  to  the  two  first  branches  of  the  order.  But  it 
would  be  an  error  to  suppose  that  this  includes  all  those 
whose  sanctity  is  acknowledged  by  the  popular  prefix  of 
"  Blessed."  In  fact,  scarcely  a  year  now  passes  without 
adding  to  the  list;  and  the  newly  beatified  saints  are 
mostly  those  of  the  earlier  centuries,  who  have  long 
been  known  and  revered  as  such  in  the  chronicles  of 
their  order. 

A.nd  the  order  is  not  yet  obsolete ;  involved  as  it  was 
in  the  general  decay  which  affected  all  religious  institu- 
tions during  the  last  century,  we  have  even  in  our  own 
day  seen  it  revive  with  redoubled  vigour.  France,  once 
the  nursery  of  infidelity,  but,  as  it  would  seem,  destined 
also  in  God's  Providence  to  be  the  nursery  of  Catholic 
regeneration,  gives  her  best  blood  to  the  ranks  of  the 
Friars  Preachers,*  whose  restoration  in  all  the  purity  of 
their  primitive  discipline  is  going  on  side  by  side  with 
the  advance -of  the  Catholic  Church.  Everywhere  the 
white  scapular  of  S.  Dominic  is  reappearing ;  Italy, 
France,  Belgium,  America,  and  England,  are  all  witness- 
ing the  second  spring  of  this  obstinate  family  which 
follows  the  fortunes  of  the  Church,  and,  like  her,  will  not 
die,  Those  who  watch  the  times  predict  for  the  Church 
a  coming  era  of  unusual  greatness;  nor  can  we  doubt 
that  if  it  be  so,  the  order  of  Friars  Preachers  will  once 
more  have  a  prominent  part  to  play.  We  would  not, 
however,  be  misunderstood;  nor  in  using  the  words 
revival  and  restoration,  would  we  point  to  any  fanciful 
bringing  back  of  manners  and  modes  of  feeling  impossible 
perhaps  in  our  day.  But  if  we  have  shown  anything  by 
the  glance  over  the  history  of  the  Friars  Preachers  which 
has  occupied  these  pages,  it  is  that  they  are  emphatically 
the  men  of  their  age,  and  are  ever  ready  to  minister  to  its 


*  Not  to  speak  of  the  influx  of  French  subjects  into  the  religious 
houses  of  the  order,  and  of  the  illustrious  living  members  of  the 
Institute  which  is  carrying  on  its  reform  under  the  government  of  a 
Frenchman,  the  popularity  of  the  Dominicans  in  France  is  evinced 
by  the  fact  that  the  third  order,  revived  by  P.  Lacordaire,  reckoned 
already  upwards  of  2,000  members  within  five  year3  from  its 
re-establishment. 


371  CONCLUSION. 

needs,  not  by  an  idealism  of  the  past,  but  by  a  vigorous 
adaptation  of  their  vast  resources  to  the  necessities  of  the 
present  day. 

In  what  way  the  eternal  counsels  of  God  may  direct  the 
freshly-waking  energies  of  the  Church  in  the  next  genera- 
tion, time  alone  can  show  ;  but  if  the  glories  of  the  Friars 
Preachers  are  indeed  to  have  that  great  revival  in  the 
latter  times  long  since  prophesied  by  S.  Teresa,  we  know 
that  they  will  be  developed,  as  of  old,  in  a  loyal  adhesion  to 
her  living  principles  j .-.  and  that  wheresoever  and  howsoever 
the  Church  may  pursue  her  heavenly  calling,  there  will 
the  order  of  S.  Dominic  be  found  labouring  in  her 
foremost  ranks. 


THE   END. 


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4  BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    o'SHEA. 

BECOMMEKDATIOlSrS 


or 


THE  GENERAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


Letter  from  His  Holiness  Pope  Pius  IX.  to  the  author  of 
"  The  General  History  of  the  Church." 


Dileoto  filio  presbytero  J.  E. 
Dabbas,  Lutetiam  Parisio- 

rum 

PIUS  P.  P.  IX. 

Dilecte  Fili,  Salutem  et 
Apostolicam  Benedictionem : 

Litteraa  Tuaa  XIII.  Kalendas 
Aprilis  proximi  ad  nos  datse, 
quibus  exemplar  offerre  nobis 
voluisti  operis  de  historia  Ec- 
clesise  generali,  fuerunt  nobis 
ipsis  quam  gratissimoa.  Sig- 
nificas  enim  id  Tibi  ftfisse  con- 
silii,  quod  virum  certe  decet 
germanae  doctrinaa  studio  ao 
singularis  erga  Nos  ipsos  se- 
demque  Apostolicam  devo- 
tionis  et  observantise  laude 
prsestantem.  Si,  ut  confidi- 
mus,  consilio  ipsi  opus  quod 
adhuc  legere  Nos  non  potui- 
mus,  exacte  respondeat,  magno 
illud  usui  erit  istic  futurum 
addetque  omnibus  stimulos  ad 
gravissimam  earn  ecclesiasti- 
corum  studiorum  partem  poe- 
nitius  internoscendam.  Meri- 
tas  pro  oblato  ipso  operis 
munere  cum  Tibi,  Dilecte  Fili, 
persolvimus  gratias,  omnipo- 
tentem  Dominum   suppliciter 


To   our  beloved    Son,   J.   E. 


PIUS  P.  P.  IX. 

Beloved  Son,  health  and  the 
Apostolic  Benediction : 

Your  letter  of  the  twentieth 
of  March,  accompanied  by  a 
copy  of  your  General  History 
of  the  Church,  was  most  grate- 
ful to  us.  The  plan  of  your 
work  testifies  your  zeal  for 
sound  doctrine  and  your  sin- 
gular and  praiseworthy  devo- 
tion toward  us  and  the  Apos 
tolic  See.  If,  as  we  trust,  the 
work  (which  we  ourselves 
have  not  as  yet  been  able  to 
read)  fulfills  the  design  pro- 
posed, it  will  be  of  the  greatest 
use,  and  will  tend  to  stimulate 
a  more  profound  study  of  this 
most  important  branch  of  Ec- 
clesiastical Science.  We  give 
you,  therefore,  beloved  son, 
merited  thanks  for  your  offer- 
ing to  us,  and  we  earnestly 
pray  Almighty  God  that  He 
will  multiply  and  preserve 
His  gifts  in  you.  And  as  a 
pledge  of  this  great  favor,  we 


BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    O  SHEA.  5 

exoramus,  ut  sua  in  te  mu-  add  the  Apostolic  Benediction, 

nera   multiplicet    ac   tueatur.  which,  with  the  sincere  affec- 

Et  tanti  linjus  boni  auspicem  tion  of  our  paternal  heart,  we 

adjungimus  Apostolicam  Be-  lovingly  impart  to  you. 
nedictionem,  quara  intirao  pa- 
terni  cordis  affectu,  ipsi  Tibi, 
Dilecte  fili,  amanter  imperti- 
mur. 

Datum  Romae  apud  S.  Petrum,  Given  at  St.  Peter's,  Rome, 

die   8    augusti,    anni   1855,  the  8th  of  August,  in  the 

Pontificatus  Nostri  anno  X.  year  of  our  Lord  1855,  and 

the  tenth  of  our  Pontificate. 


Pius  P.  P.  IX. 


Pius  P.  P.  IX. 


From  the  Most  Rev.  John-  McCloskey,  D.  D.,  Archbishop  of 
New  York. 

Deak  Sir  : — I  am  very  glad  to  learn  that  you  are  about 
publishing  an  English  version  of  the  excellent  Ecclesiastical 
History  of  the  Abbe  Darras.  The  auspices  under  which  the 
translation  is  made,  will,  I  am  confident,  secure  for  it  both 
elegance  and  fidelity.  I  trust  that  your  laudable  enterprise 
will  meet  all  due  encouragement  from  the  Catholic  public. 
Very  truly,  your  friend  and  servant  in  Christ, 

t  John,  Archbishop  of  New  York. 
P.  O'Shea,  Esq. 

New  York,  Dec.  12,  1864. 


From  the  Most  Rev.  M.  J.  Spalding,  D.  D.,  Archbishop  of 

Baltimore. 
Mr.  P.  O'Shea: 

The  conviction  grows  upon  me,  that  the  History  of  Darras, 
so  warmly  commended  by  many  learned  men  in  France,  will 
meet  a  want  which  has  been  so  long  felt  in  this  country — that 
of  a  good  Church  History,  neither  too  lengthy  nor  too  compen- 
dious, and  at  the  same  time  replete  with  interesting  and 
edifying  details. 

The  rbur  volumes  which  you  are  publishing  contain  a  rich 
array  of  facts,  well  stated  and  well  put  together,  which  will  be 
most  agreeable  and  instructive  to  our  Catholic  people,  all  of 
whom  will  of  course  seek  to  obtain  the  work  for  family  use. 
This  Church  History  will  also  be  found  very  opportune  and 
useful  in  our  numerous  Seminaries,  Colleges,  and  Academies. 
I  wish  you  every  success  in  your  praiseworthy  undertaking, 


fi  BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    O'SHEA. 

and  hope  you  will  receive  sufficient  patronage  to  defray  all 
expenses. 

t  M.  J.  Spalding,  Archbishop  of  Baltimore. 
Baltimore,  Dec.  7,  1864. 


From  the  Most  Rev.  J.  B.  Puroell,  D.  D.,  Archbishop  of 
Cincinnati. 

Cincinnati,  Nov.  15,  1864. 
Mr.  P.  O'Shea  : 

Dear  Sir: — Permit  me  to  take  this  occasion,  in  answering 
your  Circular,  to  signify  my  concurrence  in  the  judgment  pro- 
nounced on  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  Abbe  Darras. 
Please  send  me  five  copies  in  volumes,  cloth  binding. 
Respectfully  yours, 

t  J.  B.  Purcell,  Archbishop  of  Cincinnati. 


EXTEACTS  FROM  THE  LETTERS 

OF 

EMINENT  FRENCH  AND  ITALIAN  PRELATES, 

TO   TH» 

AUTHOR  OF  THE  "  GENERAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH." 


From  Monseigneue  Paeisis,  Bishop  of  Arras. 

I  have  read  nearly  the  whole  of  the  first  volume  of  youi 
General  History  of  the  Church,  and  I  have  only  congratulations 
to  address  to  you  upon  the  work.  Its  spirit  is  excellent,  its 
doctrine  sound,  and  its  style  clear  and  unaffected.  To  have 
ranged  the  facts  of  ecclesiastical  history  according  to  the  suc- 
cession of  pontiffs,  just  as  the  events  of  a  kingdom  are  fre- 
quently related  in  the  order  of  reigns,  is  a  very  happy  innovation. 
Your  work  is  in  every  respect  truly  admirable.  We  see  in  it, 
distinctly  portrayed,  the  Fathers  of  the  Church  and  their 
writings,  the  martyrs  and  their  sufferings,  the  heretics  and 
their  numerous  errors.  The  Holy  Scriptures,  the  canon  law, 
and  the  whole  discipline  of  the  Church,  are  alike  admirably 
expounded. 

I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  to  you,  if  the  other  three  volumes 
are  equal  to  the  first,  that  your  General  History  of  the  Church 
will  become  a  class-book  of  the  highest  usefulness  in  our 
seminaries. 

t  P.  L.,  Bishop  of  Arras. 


BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    O'SHEA.  7 

From  Monseignette  Debelay,  Archbishop  of  Avignon. 

We  have  caused  the  work  to  be  examined  by  a  competent 
judge,  *  *  *  and  knowing  well  the  excellent  spirit  by 
which  M.  L' Abbe  is  animated  and  his  filial  love  for  the  Church, 
we  approve  and  recommend  his  work. 

t  J.  M.  M.,  Archbishop  of  Avignon. 


From  Monseigneub  Oasanelli  D'Ibteia,  Bishop  of  Ajaccio. 

I  received  your  first  two  volumes  in  Home,  and  after  having 
examined  them  in  my  own  way,  I  submitted  them  to  the 
examination  of  two  eminent  men  of  learning  here,  Monseig- 
neur  Tizzani,  Professor  in  the  Roman  University,  and  the 
celebrated  Jesuit  Father,  Rev.  P.  Ballerini,  Professor  in  the 
Roman  College,  no  less  renowned  in  the  Holy  City  for  his 
profound  erudition. 

I  have  the  satisfaction  of  making  known  to  you  the  fact  that 
these  rigid  censors  agree  with  me  in  the  high  estimate  I  have 
formed  of  your  work.  If  the  last  two  volumes  are  equal  to 
the  first  (and  of  this  I  have  no  doubt),  I  shall  not  hesitate  to 
request  the  superiors  of  my  seminaries  to  adopt  it  in  their  in- 
stitutions as  the  text-book  of  Ecclesiastical  History;  and 
I  shall  congratulate  myself  on  having  been  one  of  the  first 
to  profit  by  the  fruit  of  your  labors.  Meanwhile,  may  your 
enterprise  prove  a  complete  success,  and  may  God  bless  a  pen 
so  usefully  employed  in  the  service  of  our  Holy  Mother  the 
Church, 

t  X.  T.  Raphael,  Bishop  of  Ajaccio, 


From  Monseignette  De  Segue,  Auditor  of  the  Tribunal  of  the 
Rota,  at  Rome. 

For  a  long  time  past  the  friends  of  the  Holy  See  and  of  the 
Church  were  anxious  to  see  a  good  Ecclesiastical  History,  short 
yet  complete,  interesting  in  style,  truly  Catholic,  yet  moderate 
and  impartial,  and  fit  to  be  used  both  by  the  clergy  and  the 
laity.  Allow  me  to  congratulate  you  on  your  having  been 
chosen  by  the  Almighty  to  execute  so  important  a  work,  and 
to  have  fulfilled  so  successfully  all  the  conditions  of  your  ar- 
duous task. 

In  this  age  of  logic  and  common  sense,  the  evil  and  the  good 
tend  more  and  more  to  separate,  and  soon  there  will  be,  with- 
out doubt,  only  two  adverse  camps  in  the  world : — Christianity 
and  the  Catholic  Church  on  the  one  side,  socialistic  revolu- 
tion and  infidel  philosophy  on  the  other.     Let  us  all  work, 


8  BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    o'SHEA. 

each  according  to  his  measure,  to  increase  the  ranks  of  God's 
army  ;  and  let  us  humbly  thank  our  Lord  when  He  permits  us 
to  serve  in  His  holy  cause.     *     *     * 

L.  G.  De  Segue. 


From  Very  Rev.  Father  Etienne,    Superior-General  of  the 

Lazarists. 

I  have  charged  with  the  examination  of  your  work  two 
Fathers  who  have  been  Professors  of  History  for  many  years 
in  the  schools  of  our  society.  They  unite  in  praising  it  in  the 
highest  terms.  I  therefore  cheerfully  add  my  approbation  of 
your  History  to  the  many  indorsements  which  you  have 
received,  and  which  no  doubt  you  will  still  receive  from  other 
sources. 

Etienne,  Superior- General. 


Lingard's  History  of  England. 

From  the  latest  revised  London  edition,  in  13  vols.,  12mo, 
beautifully  illustrated  with  fourteen  fine  line  engravings 
on  steel,  by  Goodall,  including  a  beautiful  and  correct 
portrait  of  the  author  from  an  original  painting  by  Lover. 


Thirteen  vols.,  large  12mo,  cloth $16  00 

"  "        "         "       sheep,  library  style 20  00 

"  "        "         "       half-calf  extra,  marble  edges..  28  00 

This  is  undeniably  the  standard  History  of  England.  No 
library  should  be  without  it.  No  other  writer,  it  is  universally 
acknowledged,  has  made  use  of  the  vast  mass  of  materials 
bearing  on  the  Histor}-  of  England,  with  so  much  impartiality, 
skill,  industry  and  ability  as  Lingard.  Maoatjlat  and  Hallam, 
rivals  in  the  same  field,  have  both  acknowledged  his  superior 
merits.  Daniel  "Webster  asserted  that  there  was  no  other 
work  worthy  the  name  of  History  of  England,  except  Lin- 
gard's. To  the  lawyer  who  would  make  himself  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  growth  of  the  common  law  and  the  Con- 
stitution of  England,  Lingard's  History  is  indispensable.  To 
the  general  reader,  perhaps  there  is  no  work  so  interesting 
and  instructive.  It  abounds  in  events  and  incidents  related 
in  a  style  unsurpassed  for  beauty  and  elegance.  The  arrange- 
ment is  clear  and  simple,  and  on  the  margin  of  each  page  are 
to  be  found  the  dates  of  the  occurrences  related  theiein. 


BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY  P.    O  SHEA.  9 

The  American  Republic, 

Its    Constitution,   Tendencies    and    Destiny.     By  0.  A. 
Brownson,  Esq.,  LL.  D.     1  vol.,  8vo,  456  pp. 

Cloth  plain $3  00 

Half-calf  extra 5  00 

EXTRACTS  FROM  NOTICES  OF  THE  PRESS. 

After  a  general  introduction,  Dr.  Brownson  proceeds  to 
discuss,  in  seven  chapters,  Government,  its  Origin,  and  its 
Constitution ;  and  having  thus  settled  the  leading  principles 
of  his  political  belief,  applies  them  to  the  consideration  of  the 
United  States,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  Seces- 
sion, Reconstruction,  the  Political  Tendencies,  and  Political 
and  Religious  Destiny  of  the  Republic.  The  topics  are  such 
as  come  home  to  every  intelligent  citizen,  and  they  are  treated 
in  a  manner  which  will  interest  large  classes  of  readers  who 
are  commonly  repelled  by  works  on  political  science.  As 
the  ablest  and  most  matured  of  the  author's  publications,  it 
will  doubtless  receive  what  it  unquestionably  deserves — the 
thoughtful  attention  of  thinking  minds. 

We  have  neither  time  nor  space  to  indicate  our  points  ot 
agreement  with,  or  dissent  from,  Dr.  Brown  son's  logic,  and 
indeed  the  interest  of  the  book  does  not  depend  on  the 
reader's  sympathy  with  the  writer's  views.  He  is  a  born 
reasoner,  as  some  other  men  are  born  poets ;  he  must  have 
toyed  with  the  syllogism  in  his  cradle ;  and  among  all  Ameri- 
can writers,  he  is  perhaps  the  only  one  who  has  succeeded  in 
giving  to  consecutive  argumentation  the  interest  and  charm 
of  narrative.  His  reasoning  fastens  the  attention  like  other 
men's  stories;  he  delights  in  the  process  himself,  and  his 
readers  and  hearers  catch  it  by  infection ;  and  from  the  time 
he  first  unfolded  to  the  working-men  of  Boston  the  meta- 
physics of  Cousin,  to  the  present  day,  he  has  never  lost  the 
power  of  presenting  the  most  abstruse  and  intricate  problems 
in  clear,  forcible,  logically-connected  and  captivating  state- 
ments. In  the  present  volume  this  power  is  exhibited  in  its 
most  attractive  form ;  and  as  the  subject  is  of  the  utmost 
importance,  while  its  treatment  is  as  vigorous  as  it  is  per- 
spicuous, it  would  seem  that  the  book  must  obtain  a  multitude 
of  readers. — Boston  Transcript. 

This  is  no  ordinary  book.  It  gives  us  the  mature  con- 
clusions of  a  mind  long  schooled  in  religious  and  political 
philosophies,  and  conscientiously  devoted  to  the  pursuit  of 
Truth.  It  is  undeniably  of  that  class  of  intellectual  achieve- 
ments which  build  up  the  highest  reputations,  and  resist  alike, 
1* 


10  BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    O'SHEA. 

with  a  recoil  fatal  to  all  assaults,  the  artillery  of  denunciation 
and  the  slow  corrosion  of  intentional  neglect. — New  York 
Tablet. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  work  will  give  rise  to 
conflicting  opinions,  and  notices  of  the  most  antagonistic 
character.  But  the  work  will  outlive  it  all,  and  remain  a 
iasting  monument  of  a  great  mind  and  a  patriotic  heart.  We 
venture  to  say  that  this  work  will  not  only  remain  as  one  of 
reference,  but  actually  a  Text-book  in  our  Catholic  schools. 
— Boston  Pilot. 

The  Gentle  Skeptic, 

Or  Easy  Conversations  of  a  Country  Justice  on  the  Au- 
thenticity and  Truthfulness  of  the  Old  Testament  Records. 
By  Rev.  C.  Walworth.  New  and  Revised  Edition. 
1  vol.,  368  pp.,  8vo. 

Cloth $1  50 

"    gilt  edges,  beveled 2  50 

Half-calf,  extra. 3  75 

From  the  Catholic  World  of  January,  1867. 
"  The  Gentle  Skeptic,  by  Rev.  C.  A.  Walworth,  now  pastor 
of  St.  Mary's  Church,  Albany,  treats  of  several  topics  here 
noticed  in  a  cursory  manner.  This  work  is  the  result  of 
several  years'  close  and  accurate  study  in  theology  and  science. 
It  has,  therefore,  the  solidity  and  elaborate  finish  of  a  work 
executed  with  care  and  diligence  by  one  who  is  both  a  strong 
thinker  and  a  sound  scholar.  In  style  it  is  a  model  of  classic 
elegance  and  purity,  and  in  every  respect  it  deserves  a  place 
among  the  best  works  of  English  Catholic  literature.  The 
author  has  broke  ground  in  a  field  of  investigation  which  it  is 
imperative  on  Catholic  scientific  men  to  work  up  thoroughly. 
The  entire  change  which  has  taken  place  in  the  attitude  of 
science  toward  revealed  religion  within  a  few  years,  and  in  the 
doctrines  of  science  themselves,  makes  the  old  works  written 
on  the  connection  between  religion  and  science  to  a  great 
degree  useless.  The  subject  needs  to  be  taken  up  afresh,  and 
handled  in  manner  adequate  to  the  present  intellectual  wants 
of  the  age." 

Henry  Clay's  Works, 

The  Life,  Correspondence,  and  Speeches  of  Henry  Clay. 
Six  volumes,  8vo.     By  Calvin  Colton,  LL.  D. 
Cloth,  beveled,  uncut  edges $18  00 


BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    O'SHEA.  .11 

Sheep,  library  style 20  00 

Half  calf,  extra 25  00 

FROM    THE    NEW    YORK    TIMES. 

A  new  edition  of  the  Life,  Correspondence,  and  Speeches 
of  Henry  Clay,  handsomely  printed  on  tinted  paper,  in  six 
portly  octavo  volumes,  has  just  been  published  by  Mr.  P. 
O'Shea.  This  important  work,  originally  issued  in  separate 
volumes,  at  long  intervals,  under  the  editorial  care  of  the  late 
Calvin  Colton,  has  Undergone  a  thorough  revision,  both  in 
the  arrangement  of  the  subject-matter  and  the  correction  of 
typographical  and  other  accidental  errors.  It  now  appears  in 
a  form  and  dress  worthy  of  the  memory  of  one  of  the  most 
illustrious  statesmen  of  the  Republic. 

FROM   THE   NEW   YORK   TRIBUNE. 

This  edition  of  Clay's  Works  is  gotten  up  in  the  very  best 
manner. 

FROM   THE   BOSTON   PILOT. 

We  congratulate  Mr.  O'Shea  on  his  being  able  in  these 
hard  times  to  bring  forth  another  edition  of  such  a  costly  and 
splendid  work  as  the  one  before  us.  *  *  *  *  From  no 
other  work  can  our  young  men  derive  better  materials  or  more 
reliable  data  to  understand  the  working  and  nature  of  our 
Government,  or  draw  purer  inspirations  to  serve  it  faithfully, 
than  from  Mr.  Colton's  Life  of  Henry  Clay. 


The  Complete  Works  of  Dean  Swift, 

including  a  Life  of  the  Dean,  by  Roscoe.     Six  volumes, 
large  12mo.     Illustrated  with  a  Portrait. 

Cloth,  extra $12  00 

Sheep,  library  style 16  00 

Half  calf,  extra 24  00 

This  is  the  only  elegant,  complete,  and  readable  edition  of 
Swift's  Works  extant. 

EXTRACTS   FROM   NOTICES    OF   THE   PRESS. 

We  commend  strongly  to  our  readers  this  magnificent 
edition  of  the  greatest  writer  of  his  age. — The  Irish  American. 

This  edition  of  Swift's  Works  is  above  all  praise.  It  has 
been  carefully  edited  and  beautifully  gotten  up. — Philadel- 
phia Press. 


12  BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    o'SHEA. 

Life  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary, 

1  vol.,  12mo.     Printed  on  superfine  paper,  and  beautifully 
Illustrated.     By  Rev.  Titus  Joslin,  author  of  "  Life  of 
St.    Francis   of    Assisium,"    "Scenes   from  Life  of   the 
B.  V.  M.,"  "  Star  of  Bethlehem,"  &c,  <kc. 
Cloth,  plain,  illustrated  with  fine  steel  engrav- 
ing of  the  Immaculate  Conception $1  00 

Cloth,  gilt  edges,  3  steel  engravings 1  50 

Turkey  Morocco,  extra 3  00 

This  beautiful  tribute  to  the  Immaculate  Mother  of  God, 
from  the  glowing  pen  of  its  pious  author,  must  prove  a  wel- 
come acquisition  to  the  Catholic  literature  of  America.  Its 
superb  mechanical  execution,  embracing  the  finest  paper,  most 
beautiful  typography,  excellent  illustrations,  and  richest  bind- 
ing, must  render  it  as  desirable  an  ornament  in  a  Catholic 
household  as  its  contents  are  interesting  and  edifying. 

The  Life  of  St.  Joseph. 

Translated  from  the  French  of  the  Abbe  P — ,  Vicar- 
General  of  Evreux.  To  which  are  added  Prayers  and 
Devotions  for  the  Month  of  March,  consecrated  to  his 
honor.     1  vol.,  12mo. 

Cloth,  plain : .  $1  50 

"      gilt  edges 2  00 

The  Life  of  St  Dominic, 

and  a  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Dominican  Order,  with 
an  Introduction  by  the  Most  Rev.  J.  S.  Alemany,  D.  D., 
Archbishop  of  San  Francisco.     1  vol.,  12rao. 

Cloth,  extra $1  50 

"  "    gilt  edges 2  00 

There  is  no  department  of  Catholic  literature  so  interesting 
and  instructive  as  the  Lives  of  Saints,  and  there  is  not,  in  the 
whole  range  of  sacred  biography,  a  more  interesting  and  im- 
portant work  than  the  Life  of  St.  Dominic  and  the  sketch  of 
his  renowned  Order  now  presented  to  American  readers  un^er 
the  auspices  of  the  learned  and  distinguished  Archbishop  of 
San  Francisco. 

The  Life  of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua. 

By  Father  Servais  Dirks,  Friar  Minor,  Recollect  of 


BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    o'SHEA.  13 

the  Belgian  Province.  Translated  from  the  French. 
1  vol.,  12  mo. 

Cloth,  plain $1  50 

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The  incidents  of  St.  Anthony's  life  are  here  related  in  a 
charming  manner.  Even  without  the  fascination  of  style, 
this  book  could  not  fail  to  be  popular,  so  remarkable  are  the 
various  incidents  and  miraculous  occurrences  of  the  Saint's 
life. 

The  Life  of  St,  Zita, 

A  servant-girl  of  Lucca,  in  the  thirteenth  century.  Trans- 
lated from  the  French  of  the  Baron  De  Montreuil.  To 
which  is  added,  the  Life  of  Catherine  Teaghokuita,  the 
Iroquois  Virgin,  by  Father  De  Charlevoix,  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Jesus. 

1  vol.,  18mo.,  cloth 60  cents. 

"  "  "    gilt  edges 90      " 

Here  is  a  book  which  should  be  read  not  only  by  every 
servant-girl,  but  also  by  every  Catholic  in  America.  It  shows 
how  the  Church,  like  her  Divine  Master,  honors  the  poor  as 
well  as  the  rich,  according  to  their  deserts.  The  Servant-girl 
of  Lucca  is  a  model,  which  not  only  servant-girls,  but  all 
others,  will  find  worthy  of  imitation. 

History  of  the  Pontificate  and  Captivity  of  Pope 
Pius  VL; 

Together  with  a  glance  at  the  Catholic  Church.  Trans- 
lated from  the  French  by  Miss  H***th,  a  graduate  of 
St.  Joseph's,  near  Emmitsburg,  Maryland.  1  vol.,  1 8mo, 
cloth,  240  pp.,  60  cents. 

A  more  intensely  interesting  narrative  has  rarely,  if  ever, 
been  written.  The  heroic  devotton  and  constancy  of  the 
Pope,  the  insanely  rabid  conduct  of  his  persecutors,  his  meek- 
ness under  every  contumely,  their  vexation  at  the  calm  resig- 
nation with  which  he  bore  every  affront,  together  with  the 
many  important  events  which  then  agitated  the  Christian 
world,  invest  this  volume  with  an  interest  which  rarely  at- 
taches to  any  book. 


14 

The  Star  of  the  North. 

Life  of  the   Right  Rev.  Bishop  Maginn.     By  Thomas 
D'Arcy  McGee,  Esq.     1  vol.,  12mo,  cloth,  $1.00. 

NOTICES   OF   THE   PKESS. 

The  life  of  this  great  champion  of  the  Irish  church,  so  full 
of  apostolic  zeal,  moral  courage,  and  iron  fortitude,  cannot 
fail  to  attract  the  Catholic  reader. — Baltimore  Catholic  Mir- 
ror. 

The  history  of  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Maginn  is  the  history 
of  one  of  the  most  deeply  interesting  epochs  of  Irish  history — 
the  close  of  a  religious  struggle  for  the  freedom  of  religious 
worship,  and  the  beginning  of  a  yet  unfinished  struggle  for 
national  independence.  *  *  *  We.  commend  this  book  as  a 
valuable  addition  to  Irish  literature  in  America,  which  Mr. 
McGee  has  done  so  much  to  foster  and  to  establish. — Phila- 
delphia Catholic  Herald  and  Visitor. 

We  have  not  often  read  so  interesting  a  work  as  this  memoir 
is.— N.  Y.  Truth  Teller. 

Life  of  St,  Francis  of  Assisium, 

By  Rev.  Titus  Joslin.     1  vol.,  18mo,  cloth,  gilt  back, 
45  cents. 

NOTICES   OP   THE    PEESS. 

Thank  you,  Father  Joslin,  for  writing  this  interesting  and 
earnest  little  volume. — AT.  Y.  Freeman's  Journal. 

It  is  a  charming  history  of  the  life  of  one  of  the  humblest 
and  most  devoted  servants  of  the  Lord. — Jjf.  Y.  Truth  Teller. 


FATHER  HEWIT'S 
HIGHLY  INTERESTING  AND  EDIFYING  WORKS 


I. 

Life  of  Guendaline,  Princess  Borghese, 

Translated  from  the  German,  with  an  introduction  by 
Rev.  A.  F.  Hewit.     1  vol.,  18mo,  cloth,  45  cents. 

We  are  delighted  to  see  this  admirable  little  life  of  so  exem- 
plary a  Catholic  of  our  own  times.  The  subject  is  one  of 
interest,  and  the  style  of  the  translator  is  particularly  agree- 
able.— 2f.  Y.  Freeman 's  Journal. 

We  have  often  to  commend  books  with  words  of  praise, 
since  no  other  would  be  exactly  suitable,  although  they 
scarcely  merit  what  the  words  convey.  The  present  volume 
is  an  exception.  It  is  in  reality  equally  interesting  and  edify- 
ing, and  forms  a  most  promising  commencement  of  the  New 
Catholic  Library  commenced  by  Mr.  O'Shea.  The  Life  of 
Guendaline  Talbot  reads  like  a  story  of  romance,  yet  it  is  all 
true. — St.  Louis  Leader. 

IL 

Life  of  the  Egyptian  Aloysins; 

Or,  The  Little  Angel  of  the  Copts,  by  Rev.  Father  Bres- 
ciani.    Translated  from  the  Italian  by  Rev.  A.  F.  Hewit. 

1  vol.,  cloth,  plain $0  75 

"         "      gilt  edges 1  00 

NOTICES   OF    THE    PRESS. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  delightful  little  biographies  we  have 
ever  laid  eyes  on,  and  we  hope  it  will  find  its  way  into  every 
separate  school,  and  every  other  Catholic  institution  in  the 
Province.  A  life  of  a  saint  of  the  ancient  Coptic  Church  is  a 
rarity,  especially  such  an  extended  one  as  the  present. — To- 
ronto {Canada)  Mirror. 

This  English  version  is  beautiful  and  fascinating.  It  is  put 
forth  as  a  literal  one ;  but  while  we  doubt  not  that  it  is  an 


16 

exact  reproduction  of  the  original,  we  can  recognize  in  it 
none  of  the  dryness  or  stiffness  of  style  characteristic  of  pro- 
claimed literal  translations.  Indeed,  we  cannot  see  any  noble 
feature  in  the  English  dress  of  the  memoir,  that  is  not  to  be 
discerned  in  the  translator's  edifying  introduction.  The  ar- 
tistic and  glowing  touches  of  the  same  evenly  guided  pen  are 
visible  throughout  the  whole  work,  and  one  must  be.  hyper- 
critical to  an  extreme  who  fails  to  observe  and  appreciate  the 
many  charming  merits  either  of  the  original  prefatory  remarks 
of  the  translator  or  the  translation  of  the  biography  itself. 

Had  we  room,  we  would  gladly  quote  some  portions  of  the 
work,  which  seems  to  us  singularly  beautiful  and  entertaining. 
However,  we  are  obliged  to  content  ourselves  with  what  we 
have  said  in  favor  of  the  publication,  and  again  recommend- 
ing it  to  the  notice  of  every  thoughtful  Catholio  reader.— 
ilT.  Y.  Truth  Teller. 

III. 

Life  of  a  Modern  Martyr,  Bishop  Borie. 

By  Rev.  A.  F.  Hewit. 
1  vol.,  18mo,  cloth,  gilt  back $0  50 

NOTICES   OF    THE    PKESS. 

This  is  another  of  Father  Hewit's  edifying  little  books.  His 
name  is  a  sufficient  recommendation,  yet  we  cannot  avoid 
calling  especial  attention  to  this  life  of  a  faithful  servant  of 
God,  not  alone  on  account  of  the  Christian  heroism  it  illus- 
trates, and  the  attractive  style  in  which  it  is  presented,  but 
also  because  the  subject  of  Catholic  missions  is  one  which  de- 
serves the  greatest  attention. — JV".  Y".  Freeman 's  Journal. 

This  beautiful  book  presents  to  us  a  memoir  of  one  of  the 
most  truly  heroic  men  of  modern  times.  His  burning  zeal 
led  him  to  the  remote  regions  of  Tonquin  to  spread  the  con- 
quests of  Christianity,  where  he  labored,  in  despite  of  the 
most  cruel  persecution,  until  his  blood  was  shed  under  the 
glorious  banner  of  the  Cross.—-  Catholic  Herald. 

The  Life  of  Blessed  Paul  of  the  Cross. 

Founder  of  the  Congregation  of  Discalced  Clerks,  of  the 
Most  Holy  Cross  and  Passion  of  Jesus  Christ.  Written 
by  Father  Pius  of  the  name  of  Mary,  consultor-gcneral  of 
the  same  congregation.  Translated  by  Father  Ignatius 
of  St.  Paul,  consultor  for  the  Anglo-Hibernian  Province. 
First    American   edition,  with   the   approbation   of  the 


BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    o'SHEA.  17 

Very  Rev.  Dominic  Tarletini,  Provincial  of  the  Passionists 
in  the  United  States. 

1  vol.  12rao,  cloth $0  75 

"        *  "    gilt  edge 112 

The  Life  of  St,  Bridget. 

"The  Mary  of  Erin."     By  an  Irish  Priest. 

1  vol.,  18mo,  cloth  plain 60  cents. 

"        "  "      gilt  edges 90     " 

A  more  extended  account  of  the  life  of  this  great  Saint,  so 
much  revered,  and  so  dear  to  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  had  long 
been  looked  for. 

The  publisher  is  happy  to  be  able  to  announce  at  last  the 
publication  of  such  a  work. 

The   Life  of  Mary  Magdalen; 

Or,  the   Path    of  Penitents.     By  the   Rev.  Thomas   S. 
Preston,  author  of  the  "  Ark  of  the  Covenant." 
1  vol.,  18mo,  cloth 60  cents. 

Such  a  book  has  long  been  needed.  It  now  appears  from 
a  masterly  pen,  and  is  well  calculated  to  do  all  the  good  which 
a  work  of  this  kind  could  be  instrumental  in  effecting. 

The  Life  and  Miracles  of  St,  Philomena,  Virgin 
and  Martyr, 

Whose  sacred  body  was  lately  discovered  in  the  cata- 
combs at  Rome,  and  from  thence  transferred  to  Mugnano, 
in  the  kingdom  of  Naples.    Translated  from  the  French. 

1  vol.,  18rno,  cloth 60  cents. 

"  "        "     gilt  edges .90     " 

EXTRACT    FROM     THE     PREFACE     BY     THE    SISTERS     OF    CHARIT1 
MT.    ST.    VINCENT,    N.    T. 

We  trust  this  little  volume  will  serve  to  enkindle  a  tender 
devotion  to  the  Saint  in  many  a  young  heart.  At  the  early 
age  of  thirteen  years,  this  true  heroine  trampled  all  the  vanities 
of  the  world  under  her  feet,  and  chose  to  endure  multiplied 
torments  rather  than  renounce  her  vow  to  her  crucified  Saviour. 
What  a  model  of  constancy  and  of  every  virtue  does  she 
present  to  us.  Let  the  youthful  heart  go  to  her  when  tried 
and  with  unbounded  confidence  implore  her  intercession. 


18  BOOKS  PUBLISHED   BY  P.    O'SHEA. 

The  Life  of  Bishop  Brute. 

First  Bishop  of  Vincennes,  with  sketches  describing  his 
recollections  of  scenes  connected  with  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, and  extracts  from  his  Journal.  By  the  Rt.  Rev. 
James  R.  Bayley,  D.  D.,  Bishop  of  Newark.  New 
edition. 
1  vol.,  12mo,  illustrated $1  50 


BOOKS    OF 

Iitstradton,gdiofi0ti  aitir  §UMfattoit 

Most  of  these  Books  are  highly  approved  for  distribution  at  Missions. 


THE 

WORKS  OF  SAINT  FRANCIS  OF  SALES. 


i. 
A  Treatise  on  the  Love  of  God. 

By  St.  Francis  De  Sales.     A  new  translation. 
1  vol.,  large  12mo,  over  600  pp.,  cloth $1  75 

NOTICES    OF    THE    PRESS. 

We  have  before  us  a  new  translation  of  that  sublime  and 
beautiful  treatise  on  the  Love  of  God  by  St.  Francis  de  Sales. 
We  have  taken  some  pains  to  examine  into  the  excellences 
which  should  characterize  a  new  translation  of  such  a  work, 
and  the  ease  and  beauty  of  diction,  together  with  the  idiomatic 
correctness  of  expression  throughout,  are  such  as  to  enable  us 
to  give  a  most  favorable  notice  of  the  rendering  of  this  beauti- 
ful treatise.— Philadelphia  Catholic  Herald. 

To  those  who  have  read  the  "Devout  Life,"  it  will  be  only 
necessary  to  say  of  the  style  of  this  treatise,  that  its  beauties 
are  those  with  which  they  are  already  familiar ;  but  there  is 


BOOKS   PUBLISHED    BY   P.    O'SHEA.  19 

a  depth  of  thought  and  of  feeling  here  beyond  what  we  find 
in  any  other  writings  of  St.  Francis.  The  translation  is  very 
creditable.  We  hope  this  work  will  meet  with  the  circulation 
which  it  well  merits,  and  of  which  the  present  excellent  edition 
seems  to  promise  assurance. — Baltimore  Catholic  Mirror. 

This  handsome  volume  is  a  valuable  addition  to  the  ascetic 
literature  of  the  English  language.  It  is  a  mine  of  rich 
thought  concerning  that  virtue  which  was  the  distinguishing 
characteristic  of  its  author.  It  appears  to  have  been  carefully 
translated,  and  to  give  the  name  of  its  publisher  is  equivalent 
to  saying  that  it  is  a  creditable  specimen  of  book-making. — 
Boston  Pilot. 

Of  the  work  itself  it  would  be  superfluous  to  speak — a  work 
which  is  remarkable  alike  for  its  deep  philosophy  and  theology, 
and  its  sweet,  unaffected  piety.  We  are  glad  to  see  the  work 
placed  within  the  reach  of  the  English  reader,  and  we  hope  it 
will  take  the  place  of  the  light  superficial,  sentimental  devo- 
tional works  which  have  become  so  fashionable  in  late  years. 
Its  constant  study  and  meditation  will  render  our  piety  solid 
and  robust  as  well  as  tender.  St.  Francis  was  in  some  sort 
the  apostle  of  Calvinists,  and  his  are  the  best  works  extant 
for  Catholics  who  live  in  a  Calvinistic  country  like  ours. — 
Brownson's  Review. 

II. 

The  Introduction  to  a  Devout  Life, 

By  St.  Francis  of  Sales.     To  which  is  added  a  Sketch 
of  his  Life. 

1  vol.,  24mo,  cloth,  plain 60  cents. 

"       18mo,     "     '      "    75      u 

This  book  is  beyond  all  praise.  Its  reputation  is  world-wide. 
Perhaps  there  is  no  other  work  so  universal  a  favorite  or  so 
generally  useful  as  this. 

III. 

The  Spirit  of  St.  Francis  of  Sales, 

By  the  Bishop  of  Belley.     Translated  from  the  French 

by  a  Priest  of  the  Diocese  of  Boston. 
1  vol.,  12mo,  cloth,  beveled $2  00 

The  Philadelphia  Catholic  Standard  says : 

"  This  work  of  Bishop  Camus  is  so  well  known  to  the  ad- 
mirers of  the  sainted  Bishop  of  Geneva,  that  the  mere 
announcement  of  its  appearance  in  an  English  dress  will  secure 


20  BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    o'SHEA. 

for  it  a  wide  circulation.  The  author  enjoyed  for  years  the 
familiar  and  intimate  friendship  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  and 
during  this  time  treasured  up  many  of  his  sayings  and  doings 
which  he  has  given  to  the  world  in  this  volume.  Though  St. 
Francis  is  well  known  for  his  works,  it  is  his  "spirit"  that 
makes  his  name  immortal.  In  this  book,  written  by  his  friend, 
he  teaches  by  example,  and  instills  into  the  mind  and  heart 
some  of  his  own  gentle  earnestness.  It  is  peculiarly  adapted 
to  ecclesiastics,  who  will  find  in  it  a  mine  of  sound,  practical 
instruction." 

THE  BEST  MEDITATION"  BOOK. 

JUST    PUBLISHED, 

Crasset's  Meditations  for  every  Day  in  the  Year. 

Translated  from  the   French  by  Mrs.  Anna  H.  Dorset. 

With  an  Introduction  by  Rer.  C.  Walworth. 
1  vol.,  large  12mo,  cloth $1  80 

The  Rev.  Father  Walworth,  in  his  Introduction,  says : 

"  Of  meditation  books  we  know  of  none  which  seem  to 
fulfill  their  purpose,  except  this  work  of  Father  Orasset.  *  *  * 
"We  repeat  once  more,  for  those  who  aspire,  not  simply  to  read 
meditations,  but  to  practice  mental  prayer,  this  work  of  Father 
Orasset  is  the  book  of  books. 

NOTICES   OF   THE   PRESS    ON   ORASSET's   MEDITATIONS. 

These  Meditations,  perhaps  the  most  popular  and  cele- 
brated of  any  in  Europe,  rich  in  matter  and  well-arranged  in 
form,  should  be  hailed  with  pleasure  by  English-speaking 
Catholics.  It  is  no  common  book  of  meditations,  and  should 
receive  no  common  welcome.  Mrs.  Dorsey  is  esteemed  as  a 
translator,  and  has  no  doubt  done  her  duty  well.  Mr.  O'Shea 
has  had  the  book  well  printed  and  on  good  paper. — New  York 
Freeman's  Journal. 

The  best  of  meditation  books. — New  York  Tablet. 

Many  of  the  meditation  books  that  are  to  be  found  in  the 
book-shops  are  mere  books  of  spiritual  reading,  all  the  points 
in  them  being  elaborated  to  such  an  extent  as  to  leave  nothing 
to  the  mind  of  the  meditator  to  work  out.  Others  err  in  the 
opposite  direction,  and  are  mere  bald  collections  of  heads  of 
topics  for  meditation.  Father  Crasset's  work  is  free  from 
both  of  these  objections.  It  is  eminently  suggestive  and  prac- 
tical. For  people  living  in  the  world,  it  is  the  best  manual  of 
meditation  that  we  know  of. — Boston  Pilot. 


21 

Orasset's  Meditations,  translated  by  Mrs.  Anna  H.  Dorsey, 
is  an  almost  necessary  book,  for  no  one  book  of  Meditations 
can  supply  the  varied  demand  of  those  who  cultivate  mental 
prayer.  We  have  now  two  solid,  excellent  works — Challoner's 
and  Orasset's.  In  spite  of  our  familiarity  with  the  former, 
and  our  reverence  for  its  sterling  worth,  we  are  almost  forced 
to  admit  that  for  ordinary  meditation  Cr asset  is  the  book  of 
books.  It  will  bear  comparison  with  the  highest  standards 
of  piety.  We  wish  it  the  widest  circulation,  for  it  will  prove 
a  spiritual  treasure  wherever  its  use  obtains. —  Catholic  Mirror. 

The  Sufferings  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

By  Father  Thomas  of  Jesus.  1  vol.,  12mo,  cloth, 
beveled,  $2.  This  is  the  great  standard  book  of  Medi- 
tation and  Instruction  on  the  Life  and  Sufferings  of  our 
Lord. 

The  Catholic  World  3ays  of  it : 

"  This  is  a  work  composed  by  a  great  saint,  and  justly  de- 
serving of  the  great  reputation  it  has  always  enjoyed  as  one 
of  the  best  of  spiritual  books.  It  contains  an  inexhaustible 
mine  of  meditation,  sufficient  to  last  a  person  during  his 
whole  life,  and  just  as  new  and  fresh  after  the  hundredth 
perusal  as  during  the  first.  It  is  as  a  book  for  meditation  that 
it  should  be  used,  and  for  this  purpose  it  cannot  be  too  highly 
recommended  to  religious  communities  or  to  devout  persons  in 
the  world  who  desire  and  need  a  guide  and  model  for  the 
practice  of  meditation." 


The  Sufferings  of  Jesus, 


By  Catherine  Emmerich.     Translated  by  a  Sister  of 
Mercy.     1  vol.,  18mo. 

Cloth,  with  a  fine  steel  Engraving  of  the 

"  Agony  in  the  Garden" 60  cents. 

NOTICES  of  the  press. 

This  is  a  very  attractive  little  volume,  relating  to  the 
passion  and  death  of  our  Saviour.  The  authoress  is  repre- 
sented as  having  been  favored  with  visions  during  the  holy 
season  of  Lent,  in  which  she  spiritually  witnessed  the  progress 
of  the  "  Sufferings  of  Jesus."  What  was  thus  revealed  to  her 
she  describes  in  a  graceful  style,  which  this  condensed  trans- 


22  BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY  P.    O'SHEA. 

lation  presents  unimpaired  to  edify  the  reader." — N.  Y.  Truth 
Teller. 

Persons  of  contemplative  minds  can  have  no  better  guide 
to  the  thrilling  scenes  of  Calvary  than  the  Sufferings. — N.  Y. 
Tablet. 

Here  is  an  excellent  book,  and  is  a  valuable  addition  to 
our  books  of  devotion.  It  is  got  out  in  good  style,  and  is  em- 
bellished with  a  beautiful  engraving  of  our  Blessed  Lord  in 
his  agony. — Boston  Pilot. 

Spiritual  Progress. 

By  Rev.  J.  W.  Cummings,  D.  D.,  late  Pastor  of  St.  Ste- 
phen's Church,  New  York. 
1  vol.,  12mo,  cloth,  red  edges $1  50 

The  Cincinnati  Catholic  Telegraph  says  of  it : 

"  After  a  careful  perusal  of  the  work,  we  beg  to  advise  our 

readers  to  purchase,  preserve,  and  attentively  read  it.     It  is  a 

work  of  merit." 

Selections  from  the  Writings  of  Fenelon, 

With  an  introduction  by  Rev.  Thomas  S.  Preston,  and 
a  sketch  of  the  life  of  Fenelon,  by  J.  G-.  R.  Hassard, 

1  vol.,  12mo,  cloth,  plain $1  25 

a  "  "     gilt  edges 175 

This  book  is  a  gem. — Catholic  Telegraph. 
We  have  nowhere  else  seen  so   much   of  beautiful   senti- 
ment, solid  instruction,  and   sound  philosophy   combined. — 
Nat.  Quarterly  Review. 

The  Following  of  Christ. 

In  four  books,  by  Thomas  A  Kempis.     Translated  from 
the  Latin  by  Rt.  Rev.  Richard  Challoner,  D.  D. 

1  vol.,  48mo,  beautiful  type,  cloth,  plain $0  40 

"         "  "  "        '•        gilt  edges. . .      60 

Roan,  gilt  edges 75 

Turkey  Morocco,  extra 1  50 

The  Spiritual  Combat ; 

Or,  the  Christian  Defended  against  the   Enemy  of  his 


BOOKS    PUBLISHED   BY   P-.    O'SHEA.  23 

Salvation.  1  vol.,  48mo,  uniform  with  "  The  Following 
of  Christ.'1 

Cloth,  plain 40  cents. 

"      gilt  edges 60      u 

Eoan,     "        "    75      " 

The  Spiritual  Combat  was  the  favorite  book  of  St.  Fkanois 
De  Sales.     He  always  carried  it  in  his  pocket. 

Instructions  on  the  Commandments  and  Sacra- 
ments, 

Translated  from  the  Italian  of  St.  Alphonsus  M.  Liguori. 
1  vol.,  48mo,  uniform  with  "The  Following  of  Christ* 
Cloth,  plain,  40  cents. 

A  Treatise  on  Prayer, 

By  St.  Alphonsus  Liguori.  1  vol.,  48mo,  cloth,  uni- 
form with  the  above,  40  cents. 

THE  BEST  BOOK  FOR  THE  MONTH  OF  MAY. 
The  Ark  of  the  Covenant ; 

Or,  a  series  of  short  Discourses  upon  the  Joys,  Sorrows, 
Glories,  and  Virtues  of  the  Ever  Blessed  Mother  of  God. 
By  Rev.  Thomas  S.  Preston.  1  vol.,  18mo,  cloth, 
plain,  60  cents. 


A  Month  of  May; 


Or,  Scenes  from  the  Life  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary. 
Arranged  for  the  devotions  of  the  month  of  May,  with 
practices,  prayers,  and  examples.  1  vol.,  32mo,  cloth, 
38  cents. 

SOME   OF   THE    NOTICES    OF    THE   PEESS. 

This  is  a  precious  little  jewel  case,  containing  a  number  of 
the  most  precious  pearls  of  the  crown  of  the  Immaculate  Vir- 
gin Mother.  They  are  really  brilliant,  quite  free  from  com- 
mon-place, and  wrought  in  sparkling  style,  so  that  they  are 
beyond  all  praise.     We  warmly  commend  this  beautiful  book 


24 

to  every  household.  It  cannot  be  read  without  having  our 
love  for  our  Blessed  Lady  increased. — Philadelphia  Catholic 
Herald. 

This  little  book  is  a  gem.  *  *  *  It  is  beautifully  gotten  up. 
— N~.  Y.  Freeman 's  Journal. 

The  Little  Month  of  the  Holy  Infancy; 

Or,  the  First  Mysteries  of  the  Life  of  Our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  proposed  to  the  imitation  of  youth.  Trans- 
lated from  the  French  of  the  Abbe  Letourneur,  V.  G. 
of  Soissons,  and  dedicated  to  the  members  of  the  Society 
of  The  Holy  Childhood.    1  vol.,  18mo,  cloth,  63  cents. 

This  is  the  most  instructive,  interesting,  and  edifying  book, 
especially  for  youth,  that  has  ever  fallen  under  our  notice.  It 
presents  in  the  most  charming  manner  an  account  of  the  first 
years  of  the  life  of  our  Divine  Lord,  with  suitable  reflections. 
Each  chapter  contains  a  happily  conceived  colloquy  between 
the  Infant  Saviour  and  the  youthful  Christian  reader,  and 
closes  with  a  beautiful  historical  example  well  calculated  to 
impress  upon  the  mind  principles  of  true  Christian  heroism, 
always  inseparable  from  the  performance  of  simple  daily 
duties. 

Give  this  booh  to  your  children  and  neglect  not  to  read  it 
yourselves. 

Think  WellOn't; 

Or,  Reflections  on  the  Great  Truths  of  the  Chris- 
tian Religion  for  every  day  of  the  month.  By  Rt. 
Rev.  R.  Challoner,  D.  D.  1  vol.,  32mo,  cloth,  30 
cents. 

This  is  decidedly  the  most  beautiful  edition  extant  of  this 
famous  book  of  Bishop  Challoner. 

Via  Crucis ; 

Or,  the  Stations  of  the  Holy  Way  of  the  Cross.  Paper 
covers,  6  cents.     $4  per  100  copies. 

New  Testament, 

24mo.     A  beautiful  pocket  edition.     Printed  from  pearl 


25 

type.  With  the  approbation  of  the  Most  Rev.  John 
McCloskey,  D.  D.,  Archbishop  of  New  York. 

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24nio.  A  beautiful  pocket  edition.     In  press. 

The  Manual  of  the  Confraternities, 

Containing  the  Stations  of  the  Cross,  and  the  form  of 
erecting  and  blessing  them  ;  the  Scapular  of  the  Blessed 
Trinity ;  the  Scapular  of  the  Passion  ;  the  Scapular  of 
the  Immaculate  Conception ;  the  Scapular  of  the  Seven 
Dolors ;  the  Scapular  of  Mount  Carmel,  Via  Matris,  Liv- 
ing Rosary,  &c,  &c.     1  vol.,  32 mo,  cloth,  45  cents. 


POEMS,  TALES,  LEGEKDS,  &o.,  &o. 
The  Rosa  Mystica; 

or,  Mary  of  Nazareth.     The  Lily  of  the  House  of  David. 

By  Marie   Josephine. 

1  vol.,  12mo,  extra,  cloth,  red  edges $2  00 

"  "  "     '      "      gilt  edges 3  00 

The  gifted  author  of  this,  while  yet  a  Protestant,  and  with 
no  intention  of  becoming  a  Catholic,  conceived  the  idea  of 
giving  in  poetry  the  life  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  ;  and  after  she 
had  completed  it,  the  present  work,  "  Rosa  Mystica,"  she 
formally  renounced  Protestantism  and  professed  Catholicism — 
a  striking  example  of  the  fact  that  our  holy  religion  requires 
only  investigation  in  order  to  be  adopted.  The  work  is  an 
unique  gem.  It  possesses  much  fervent  piety,  poetical  excellency 
and  originality.  Its  tender  devotional  sentiments  toward  our 
Blessed  Mother  and  its  literary  merits  will  instruct  and  please 
any  one  who  appreciates  the  good  and  the  beautiful. — Cin- 
cinnati Catholic  Telegraph. 

Rosa  Immaculata, 

or,  Tower  of  Ivory  in  the  House  of  Anna  and  Joachim. 

2 


20 

A  Poem  by  Marie  Josephine,  author  of  u  Rosa  Mystica." 
1  vol.,  12mo,  uniform  with  Rosa  Mystica,  $2;  gilt 
sides  and  edges,  $3. 

The  Siege  of  Spoleto. 

A  Poem  by  Michael  J.  A.  McCaffery,  M.  A. 

1  vol.,  12mo,  cloth $0  75 

"        M      superfineed 1  00 

This  is  a  poem  of  very  rare  merit.  The  story  of  the  Siege 
of  Spoleto  will  always  possess  historic  interest.  It  is  recited  in 
this  charming  poem  in  a  manner  which  happily  combines 
historic  fidelity  with  poetical  grace  and  vivacity. 

Agnes  Hilton ; 

or,  Practical  Views  of  Catholicity,  a  tale  of  trials  and 
triumphs,  by  Miss  Mart  J.  Hoffman.  1  vol.,  12mo, 
cloth,  $1  50. 

This  is  unquestionably  the  most  charming,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  most  useful  Catholic  tale  that  we  have  yet  had  from 
the  pen  of  an  American  writer.  It  has  received  high  praise 
from  the  secular  as  well  as  the  Catholic  press.  Perhaps 
no  better  book  could  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  non  Catholic 
reader  in  order  to  give  in  an  attractive  manner  a  broad  and 
clear  view  of  the  teaching  and  practices  of  the  Church. 

Bickerton ; 

or,  The  Immigrant's  Daughter.  A  tale  of  the  times.  By 
the  author  of  "Harry  Layden,"  <fcc.  1  vol.,  12mo,  cloth, 
60  cts. 

NOTICES  OF  THE  PRESS. 

This  is  an  excellent  story,  and  well  suited  to  the  times. — 
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Any  work  like  the  Immigrant's  Daughter,  whose  tendency 
is  to  wither  or  uproot  bigotry  and  intolerance,  ought  to  be 
welcomed  by  every  man  who  loves  the  country  and  its  institu- 
tions, and  is  animated  by  the  holy  principle  of  Patrick  Henry 
— "  Give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death." — N~.  Y.  Citizen. 

This  is  an  excellent  little  work  of  fiction,  grounded  on  the 
present  aspect  of  political  affairs  in  this  country.     It  is  a  true 


27 

narrative  of  the  sufferings  of  many  a  poor  immigrant,   and 
will  be  read  with  interest. — 2f.  Y.  Irish  American. 

This  is  an  interesting  story,  and  will  be  read  with  great 
interest  at  the  present  time,  as  it  dips  into  the  Know  Noth- 
ings in  grand  style.  The  book  is  well  gotten  up  by  the  pub- 
lisher.— Boston  Pilot. 

Edina  and  Marguerite, 

A  tale  by  the  author  of  the  "Orphan  of  Moscow." 
18mo,  cloth,  gilt  back,  60  cents. 

NOTICES  OF  THE  PRESS. 

It  is  a  highly  pleasing  story  for  young  persons,  illustrative 
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and  friendship. — Philadelphia  C.  Herald. 

A  truly  edifying  and  interesting  story. — 2ST.  T.  Truth  Teller. 

The  Young  Communicants, 

By  the  author  of  "  Geraldine."  1  vol.,  18mo,  cloth, 
38  cents. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  point  out  the  merits  of  a  book  written 
by  the  author  of  "Geraldine."  It  may  not,  however,  be  out 
of  place  to  say  that  Father  Joslin  especially  recommends  it  as 
a  most  instructive  and  interesting  book,  in  a  note  in  that  ex- 
cellent prayer  book,  the  Star  of  Bethlehem. 

Legends  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 

Translated  from  the  French  of  Colin  de  Plancy,  and  pub- 
lished with  the  approbations  of  the  Archbishop  of  Paris 
and  his  Eminence  Cardinal  Wiseman. 

1  vol.,  12mo,  cloth * $0  90 

"        "  "  gilt  edges 1  50 

These  legends  have  a  world  wide  celebrity. 


Filial  and  Fraternal  Piety 


By  Brother  Philippe,  Superior-General  of  the  Brothers 
of  the  Christian  Schools.  Translated  from  the  French  by 
Christine  Farville. 

1  vol.,  18mo,  cloth 60  cents. 

"  "      gilt  edges 90     " 


28  BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    o'SHEA. 

This  book  contains  over  one  hundred  remarkable  and  well 
authenticated  examples  of  the  blessings  that  attend  filial  duty, 
and  of  the  awful  retribution  which  has  followed  contempt  or 
neglect  of  this  sacred  duty.  Each  of  these  examples  is  an 
interesting,  sometimes  a  delightful  oe  a  thrilling  narra- 

TIVE. 

These  remarkable  narratives  are  presented  under  the  fol . 
lowing  heads : 

I.  Love  for  Parents. 
II.  Kespect  for  Parents. 

III.  Bearing  with  the  Faults  of  our  Parents. 

IV.  Respect  due  to  Old  Age. 
V.  Obedience  to  Parents. 

VI.  Bodily  Assistance  due  to  Parents. 

VII.  Spiritual  Assistance  due  to  Parents. 
VIII.  Concord  between  Brothers  and  Sisters. 

The  Children  of  the  Patriarchs ; 

or,  The  Six  Hundred  Thousand  Combatants  Conquering  the 
Promised  Land.  By  Brother  Philippe,  Superior-General 
of  the  Christian  Brothers,  author  of  "  Examples  of  Filial 
and  Fraternal  Piety,"  &c. 

1  vol.,  18mo,  cloth $0  75 

"  "         "     gilt  edges 1  00 

In  this  beautiful  volume,  all  the  more  striking  incidents  of 
the  Old  Testament  are  presented  in  a  manner  admirably  suited 
for  young  persons.  It  fills  a  void  that  has  been  long  felt  in 
our  religious  literature  for  the  young. 

The  Sheaf. 

By  M.  Alfred  des  Essabts.  Translated  from  the  French 
by  Christine  Farville. 

1  vol.,  18mo,  cloth $0  90 

"  M        «     gilt  edges 1  20 

PREFACE. 

As  we  deliver  up  to  the  public  the  simple  narratives  that 
form  this  volume,  we  think  it  well  to  explain  both  its  title  and 
its  aim.  There  are  all  kinds  of  sheaves  :  sheaves  of  flowers  in 
spring,  sheaves  of  corn  in  summer.  As  provident  people,  let 
us  make  for  the  long  evenings  of  the  latter  end  of  autumn,  for 
those  long  nights  that  claim  moral  amusement,  our  sheaf  of 
narratives. 


BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    O'SHEA.  29 

Morality  has  also  its  flowers,  it  nourishes  like  the  corn,  and 
the  nutrition  it  gives  to  the  soul  should  be  well  chosen.  On 
this  head  we  hope  to  have  attained  the  aim,  and  we  trust  that 
there  will  not  be  found  in  our  sheaf  one  single  sterile  shoot 
that  cautious  censure  would  wish  to  cut  off. 

May  Templeton, 

A  Tale  of  Faith  and  Love.     By  the  author  of  "  Tyborne, 
and  Who  Went  Thither,"  <kc,  <fec. 

1  vol.,  12mo,  cloth,  plain $1  50 

"  u      gilt  edges 2  00 

This  is  perhaps  the  most  elegantly  written  work  in  the 
whole  range  of  Catholic  fiction.  It  exhibits,  on  the  part  of  its 
distinguished  author,  a  rare  union  of  genius  and  common 
sense,  with  a  very  remarkable  knowledge  of  the  motives 
which  prompt  and  influence  human  action. 

Mignon, 

A  Tale.     Translated  from  the  French. 

1  vol.,  12mo,  cloth $1  25 

"         "    gilt  edges 1  75 

This  is  a  tale  of  great  pathos  and  brilliancy.  It  excited  a 
remarkable  degree  of  interest  in  France,  and  no  doubt  will  bo 
no  less  welcome  to  American  readers. 

Charming  Stories  for  the  Young, 

In  beautiful  bindings,  suitable  for  premiums,  and  at  very 
low  prices. 

Sebastian's     One     Thousand     Feancs. — Beautifully 
bound  in  enameled  paper,  with  bronze  lettering. 

18mo $0  12 

Heneietta. — A  true   story,  beautifully  bound  in   ena- 
meled paper,  with  bronze  lettering. 

18mo 12 

Geetohen  ;  or,  The  Chapel  of  Winkelried. — Enameled 

paper  cover,  with  bronze  lettering 12 

The  Faiby's  Well.— Enameled     paper    cover,    with 

bronze  lettering 12 


30  BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    O'SHEA. 

The  Seceet  of  Riches. — A  Tale  of  the  last  Century. 

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The  Saukkmonde. — Tradition  of  the  Black  Mountain. 

Enameled  paper  cover,  with  bronze  lettering 12 

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cover,  with  bronze  lettering 12 

Valentine,     the     Successful      Student. — Enameled 

paper  cover,  with  bronze  lettering 12 

Adventuees  and  Misfoetunes  of  a  Saxon  School- 

MASTEE 15 

An  Episode  of  the  Kussian   Campaign 15 

The  same,  beautifully  bound,  in  six  vols.,  cloth, 
viz: — 

Sebastian  and  Faiey's  "Well. — 1  vol.,  18mo,  cloth..         30 

Heneietta  and  Gteetchen. — 1  vol.,  18mo,  cloth 30 

Seceet  of  Kiches  and   Saueemonde. — 1  vol.,   18mo, 

cloth 30 

Coenelio  and  Valentine. — 1  vol.,  18mo,  cloth 30 

The  Saxon  Schoolmastee.         "  "        "    30 

The  Campaign  in  Russia.  "  "        "    30 


PEAYER    BOOKS, 


A    SPLENDID    NEW    PRAYER    BOOK, 

The  Manual  of  the  Immaculate  Conception. 

A  collection  of  prayers  for  general  use,  including  ttie 
most  approved  devotions  to  the  Blessed  Mother  of  God, 
selected  from  authentic  sources,  with  the  approbation  of 
the  Most  Rev.  J.  McCloskey,  D.  D.,  Archbishop  of  New- 
York.     Copiously  illustrated  with,  fine  steel  engravings. 

It  contains  1220  pages,  18mo,  printed  on  fine  white  paper, 
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31 


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and  placed  under  her  benign  protection,  under  the  title  of  her 
Immaculate  Conception.  It  is  now  his  privilege  to  have  ful- 
filled this  design.  He  devoutly  trusts  that  the  Manual  op 
the  Immaculate  Conception  will  not  be  found  unworthy 
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of  America.  As  a  general  Prayer  Book,  it  will  recommend 
itself  to  popular  use  by  its  completeness,  accueaoy,  and 
beauty.  But  besides  containing  those  devotions  generally 
sought  for  in  a  Prayer  Book,  it  contains,  also,  in  a  well- 
arranged  -manner,  nearly  all  those  beautiful  prayers  to  the 
Holy  Mother  of  God,  upon  which  the  Church  has  put  the 
sacred  stamp  of  her  approbation. 


NOTICES   OF   THE   PRESS. 

The  Freeman's  Journal  says  of  it :  "  It  is  a  general  Manual 
of  Devotions,  and  comprises  many  and  well-selected  medita- 
tions and  instructions.  Those  pious  enough  to  use  large 
prayer  books  and  many  devotions  will  be  well  satisfied  with 
it.  It  really  strikes  us  as  a  meritorious  and  excellent  prayer 
book." 

The  Cincinnati  Catholic  Telegraph  says :  "  The  '  Manual  of 
the  Immaculate  Conception,'  published  by  P.  O'Shea,  New 
York,  and  approved  by  the  Most  Rev.  J.  McCloskey,  D.  D. 
This  is  one  of  the  most  complete  manuals  of  devotion  that  we 
have  seen.  Besides  a  large  collection  of  the  most  beautiful 
prayers  for  general  use,  the  Epistles  and  Gospels  for  every 
Sunday  and  holiday  in  the  year,  it  contains  all  the  most  ap- 


32  BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    07SHEA. 

proved  devotions  to  our  Blessed  Mother,  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Immaculate  Conception  of  whom  it  has  been  published. 
The  amount  of  matter  it  contains,  all  approved  by  the  Most 
Eev.  Archbishop  of  New  York,  may  be  judged  from  the  fact 
that  there  are  1,114  pages  in  it.  It  is  well  printed,  and  taste- 
fully illustrated,  on  good  paper,  and  most  beautifully  bound  in 
fine  morocco." 

The  St.  Louis  Guardian  says :  "  Mr.  O'Shea,  the  publisher 
of  New  York,  has  rendered  a  lasting  service  to  the  Catholic 
community,  by  issuing  the  above  excellent  book  of  Devotion. 
It  combines,  with  the  ordinary  prayer  book,  a  manual  of  spe- 
cial devotions  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  with  suitable  prayers  for 
Novenas,  offices  of  the  Scapular,  Epistles,  Gospels,  &c,  for  the 
year. 

The  Metropolitan  Record  says :  "  The  fullest  and  most  beau- 
tiful manual  of  prayer  ever  issued  by  a  New  York  publisher. 
In  its  pages  will  be  found  the  devotional  exercises  to  which 
the  mind  instinctively  turns  in  joy  or  sorrow,  in  sickness  or 
suffering,  as  well  as  the  public  offices  of  the  Church  for  peni- 
tential seasons,  high  festival  times,  or  ordinary  occasions ; 
novenas  and  litanies ;  and  every  approved  form  of  private  or 
associated  prayer.  In  addition,  the  '  Manual  of  the  Immacu- 
late Conception'  is  profusely  illustrated,  clearly  printed,  and 
handsomely  bound." 

The  Manual  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  contains, 
besides  the  usual  devotions  to  be  found  in  large  prayer  books — 

Novenas  for  the  principal  Feasts  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

Novena  to  Saint  Joseph. 

Vespers  for  the  Festivals  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

Chaplet  of  Twelve  Stars. 

Chaplet  of  Seven  Dolors. 

Forty  Ave  Marias. 

Little  Office  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  in  Latin  and  English. 

Office  of  the  Immaculate  Conception. 

A  great  number  of  Indulgenced  Devotions  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin. 

Mass  of  the  Sacred  Heart. 

Devotions  to  the  Sacred  Heart. 

Mass  for  the  Dead. 

Epistles  and  Gospels  for  the  Sundays  and  Festivals  through- 
out the  year,  &c,  &c,  &c. 

The   Star  of  Bethlehem 

A  new  and  complete  Prayer  Book,  containing — besides  the 
ordinary  devotions  to  be  found  in  other  Prayer  Books — 


BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    O'SHEA. 


33 


the  Epistles  and  Gospels  for  all  the  Sundays  and  Holidays 
of  the  year  ;  the  complete  Vespers  for  Sundays  and  Festi- 
vals, with  the  appropriate  Music  for  each  Psalm.  Com- 
piled by  the  Rev.  Titus  Joslin.  With  the  approbation  of 
the  Most  Rev.  J.  Hughes,  D.  D.,  Archbishop  of  New 
York.  Printed  on  fine  white  paper,  and  beautifully  illus- 
trated with  fine  steel  engravings.     18mo,  810  pp. 


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15.  "  "  "    extra  ornaments 


The  Star  of  Bethlehem. 

24mo,  edition. 

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28.  "            "    velvet  corners,  and  clasps  ......  6  00 

29.  u            "        u      rims 6  75 

30.  u            "    full  ornaments 8  00 

31.  "  "    extra  ornaments,  from....  $10  to  20  00 
2* 


34  BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    o'SHEA. 

WHAT    THE    CATHOLIC    PRESS   SATS   OF   IT. 

It  compares  favorably  with  any  Prayer  Book  published  in 
America. — i\T.  Y.  Freeman's  Journal. 

This  manual  reflects  great  credit  on  both  the  compiler  and 
publisher.  It  contains  over  800  pages  of  the  best  selected 
matter  ever  put  into  a  Prayer  Book,  while  the  paper,  printing, 
and  binding  are  in  character  with  the  contents. — N.  Y.  Tablet. 

This  is  a  Prayer  Book  of  the  largest  class,  but  the  cheapest 
in  price,  just  issued.  We  observe  that  those  litanies  which 
have  been  noticed  by  the  most  learned  of  our  theologians  have 
been  entirely  omitted.  This  feature  will  certainly  commend 
it,  and  we  speak  for  it  a  liberal  share  of  patronage. — Balti- 
more Catholic  Mirror. 

From  our  own  experience,  we  can  say  there  is  hardly  any 
work  so  hard  to  find  as  a  Pbatee  Book,  containing  the  vari- 
ous devotional  aids  which  a  Christian  requires  in  daily  life. 
The  Star  of  Bethlehem  is  most  satisfactory  in  this  respect. 
All  the  principal  services  of  the  Church,  all  the  ordinary  ne- 
cessities of  the  Christian,  are  copiously  provided  for.  The 
prayers  at  Mass,  as  well  as  the  preparation  for  confession  and 
communion,  are  especially  full.  The  Vespers  also  form  a  note- 
worthy feature  of  this  volume.  It  includes  the  proper  psalms 
for  every  feast  in  the  year,  accompanied  by  its  appropriate  bar 
of  music,  placed  neatly  and  conspicuously  over  the  psalms.  In 
short,  The  Stae  of  Bethlehem  is  a  prayer  book  that  can  be 
relied  upon.  It  is  printed  beautifully,  carefully,  and  attract- 
ively, is  illustrated  with  well-executed  and  appropriate  steel 
engravings,  and  is  substantially  bound  in  a  variety  of  styles,  to 
suit  the  means  of  every  Catholic. — JST.  Y.  Truth  Teller. 

This  very  excellent  compilation  includes  the  gospels  and 
epistles  for  the  year,  and  various  offices,  special  devotions,  and 
masses,  in  addition  to  the  usual  contents.  The  book  is  well 
printed  in  large  clean  type,  and  will  be  found  a  useful  compan- 
ion and  guide  to  the  holy  temple. — Philadelphia  Catholic 
Herald. 

We  observe  throughout  this  manual  many  useful  notes  and 
remarks,  proofs  of  the  Rev.  Father  Joslin's  zeal  for  the 
interest  and  welfare  of  the  people  intrusted  to  his  care. — 
Baltimore  Metropolitan  Magazine. 

The  Paradise  of  the  Christian  Soul. 

Delightful    for  its  choicest  pleasures  of  piety  of  every 
kind.     By  James  Merlo  Horstius,  of  the  Church  of 


BOOKS   PUBLISHED    BY   P.    O'SHEA.  35 

the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  in  pasculo  pastoris,  at  Cologne. 
A  new  and  complete  translation,  by  lawful  authority. 
18 mo,  1083  pages. 

The  Paradise  of  the  Christian  Sotjl,  to  which  access 
hitherto  was  only  had  in  the  Latin  language,  is  the  most  com- 
plete manual  of  Catholic  devotion,  meditation,  and  instruction, 
ever  published.  It  contains  nearly  eleven  hundred  pages  of 
closely  but  beautifully  printed  matter,  remarkable  for  its  sweet 
and  fervid  piety,  and  its  choice  and  useful  instruction.  It  is, 
beyond  all  other  books,  a  Family  Pbatee  Book,  and  a  copy 
of  it  should  be  in  every  Catholic  family. 

No.  1.  Cloth,  plain $1  25 

2.  Eoan,  embossed,  plain  edges.     1  steel  engraving.     1  50 

3.  u  "         gilt  edges.       2     "  engravings.     2  00 

4.  American  morocco,  gilt  sides  and  edges,     4  steel 

engravings 2  25 

5.  American  morocco,  gilt  sides   and   edges,  and 

clasp.     4  steel  engravings 2  50 

6.  Turkey  morocco,  extra.     6  steel  engravings 3  50 

7.  u  "  "     and  clasp.     6  steel  eng's.     4  00 

8.  "            "             "    beveled  boards.     6  steel 
engravings 4  00 

9.  Turkey  morocco,   extra,   beveled  and  clasp.     6 

steel  engravings f 4  50 

10.  Turkey  morocco,  paneled 5  00 

WHAT   THE   OATHOLIO    PEESS    SAYS    OF   IT. 

It  contains  the  most  soul -elevating  prayers  we  have  ever 
read. —  Catholic  Herald. 

The  Mission  Book, 

A  new  and  improved  edition.  A  Manual  of  Instructions 
and  Prayers,  adapted  to  preserve  the  Fruits  of  the  Mis- 
sion. Published  under  the  direction  of  the  Missionary- 
Priests  of  St.  Paul.     18mo,  500  pages. 

No.  1.  Roan,  embossed,  plain  edges , $1  00 

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8.      "      embossed,  gilt  edges 1  25 

4.  "  "  "         "    and  clasps 1  50 

5.  Imitation  morocco,  full  gilt  sides  and  edges 1  50 

6.  "  "  u     "       "    '  "    clasp...  1  75 

7.  Turkey  morocco,  extra 3  00 


36  BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.   O'SHEA. 

8.  Turkey  morocco,  extra,  clasps $3  50 

9.  "  "  "    beveled 3  50 

10.  "  "  u  "      clasps 4  00 

11.  ""  "  "    paneled    4  50 

12.  "  "  "  a      and  clasps 5  00 

13.  "  u  "  velvet  corners  and  clasps. .  6  50 

14.  "  "  "        "      rims  and  clasps 7  50 

15.  "  "  "  "      full  ornaments...    .9  00 

The  Mission  Book. 

24mo. 

No.  16.  Koan,  plain $0  75 

17.  u      gilt  sides 90 

18.  "      embossed,  gilt  edges 1  00 

19.  "  "  "         "    clasps 1  20 

20.  "      full  gilt  sides  <md  edges 1  25 

21.  '«        "     u        "  "  clasps 1  50 

22.  Turkey  morocco 2  00 

23.  "  "      clasp 2  50 

24.  u  "      extra 2  50 

25.  "  "  "    clasp 3  00 

26.  •*  "  "    beveled 3  00 

27.  u  "  "  "      clasp 3  50 

28.  **  "         u    bands  and  ornaments 5  00 


The  Key  of  Heaven. 


24mo.  New  and  enlarged  edition.  Containing  the  Col- 
lects, Gospels,  the  Stations  of  the  Cross,  and  the  Scapu- 
lars. 

No.  1.  Cloth,  plain.     1  plate •. .  $0  50 

2.  Eoan,  embossed 63 

gilt  edges 1  00 

"        and  clasp 1  20 

full  gilt  sides 90 

bs.     3  plates 1  25 

clasps 1  50 

Turkey  morocco,  extra 2  50 

"    clasp 3  00 

%i    beveled.   3  00 

"         "        clasp 3  50 

paneled,  &c 3  25 

"        and  clasp 3  75 

"        bands  and  clasps 5  00 


3.      " 

a 

4.      " 

a 

5.      "      ful 

gil 

6.      " 

u 

7.      " 

u 

8.  Turkey  m 

oro 

9. 

u 

10.         " 

u 

11.         " 

a 

12.         " 

(i 

13.         " 

a 

14.         " 

a 

BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    o'SHEA.  37 

15.  Turkey  morocco,  velvet  corners  and  clasps $5  50 

16.  "  "  *      bands  and  clasps 6  25 

17.  "  "  "      full  ornaments 7  50 

18.  "  "  "      extra 

The  Key  of  Heaven, 

18mo.     Large  type,  fine  paper.     A  superb  edition. 

No.  19.  Roan,  plain,  with  a  fine  steel  engraving $1  00 

20.  "      embossed,  gilt  edges 1  25 

21.  "  "  "        "    and  clasps }  50 

22.  "      gilt  sides 1  25 

23.  "         w       "    and  edges 1  50 

24.  "        M       «  «      and  clasps i....!  75 

25.  Turkey  morocco,  extra 2  75 

26.  "  "  "     and  clasps 3  25 

27.  "  "        beveled £  25 

28.  "  "  "       and  clasps 3  75 

29.  "  "        paneled 4  00 

30.  "  "  "       and  clasps 4  50 

31.  "  "  "       bands  and  ornaments . .  fr  00 

The  Christian's  Daily  Guide. 

A  Manual  of  Prayers,  selected  from  the  most  approved 
sources;  containing  a  great  many  Indulgenced  Prayers. 
Printed  in  large  type,  on  fine  white  paper;  beautifully 
illustrated,  with  fine  steel  engravings,  besides  illustrations 
of  the  Rosary  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary.  3 2 mo.  Ap- 
proved by  the  Most  Rev.  J.  McCloskey,  D.  D.,  Arch- 
bishop of  New  York. 

No.  1.  Cloth,  plain $0  40 

2.  Roan,     "     50 

3.  "      gilt  edges 75 

4.  a        "      "    and  clasps 90 

5.  "      gilt  sides 60 

6.  "        "      "    and  edges 88 

7.  "        "      "      "      "    and  clasps 100 

8.  Turkey  morocco,  extra 2  00 

9.  "  "  "     and  clasps 2  50 

10.  "  "        beveled 2  50 

11.  "  "  «      and  clasps 3  00 

12.  "  «        paneled 3  75 

13.  "  «  «      and  clasps 4  25 

14.  u  "  «'      ornaments  and  *lasps...5  00 


38  BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY  P.    o'SHEA. 

The  Christian's  Treasury 

A  most  beautiful,  complete,  and  useful  prayer  book ;  con- 
taining all  the  most  approved  prayers,  with  the  Epistles 
and  Gospels,  and  the  appropriate  Vespers  for  every  Sun- 
day and  holiday  in  the  year.  Printed  on  fine  paper,  in 
large  type  ;  with  a  variety  of  fine  illustrations.  Approved 
by  the  Most  Rev.  J.  McCloskey,  D.  D.,  Archbishop  of 
New  York. 

No.  1.  Cloth,  plain,  24mo $0  60 

2.  Roan,     "     75 

3.  "    gilt  edges 1  00 

4.  "      "        "    and  clasps 1  25 

5.  "    gilt  sides 90 

6.  "      "       "    and  edges 1  25 

7.  "      "       "    and  clasps 150 

8.  Turkey  morocco,  extra 2  50 

9.  u  "  "     and  clasps 3  00 

10.  u  "         beveled 3  00 

11.  u  "  "        and  clasps 3  50 

12.  "  "         paneled. 4  00 

13.  "  "  "        and  clasps 4  50 

14.  "  "  "        bands  and  clasps 5  00 

The  Little  Path  to  Paradise. 

48mo.  A  very  complete,  portable,  and  elegant  Prayer 
Book. 

No.  1.  Cloth,  plain $0  30 

2.  Embossed 38 

3.  "        gilt  edges 50 

4.  "  "       "     and  clasp 63 

5.  u        gilt  sides 45 

6.  "  "      "    and  edges 63 

7.  "  "      "      "      "    and  clasp 75 

8.  Turkey  morocco,  extra 1  25 

9.  *  "  "     and  clasps 1  62 

10.         "  "        bands  and  clasps 2  50 

The  Flowers  of  Paradise, 

24mo,  512  pages.  Containing  the  Collects  and  Gospels, 
the  Confraternities,  and  Indulgenced  Devotions. 

No.  1.  Cloth,  plain.     1  plate $0  50 

2.  Roan,  embossed.     1  plate 63 


BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY   P.    o'SHEA.  39 

3.  Koan,  embossed,  gilt  edges $1  00 

4.  "  u  "       "     and  clasp 1  20 

5.  "    full  gilt  sides.     2  plates 90 

6.  "       "      a       "     and  edges 125 

7.  "       H      "       "       "         "     clasps 1  50 

8.  Turkey  morocco,  extra,  case 2  25 

9.  "  "  "       flexible... 2  50 

10.  "  "  "       clasp 3  00 

11.  «  "  "       beveled 3  00 

12.  "  "  "  "      clasps 3  50 

13.  "  "         bands  and  ornaments 5  00 

Velvet,  from  $3.75  to  $15. 

The  Flowers  of  Paradise. 

32mo. 

No.  14.  Cloth,  plain $0  45 

15.  Eoan,      "     50 

16.  u      gilt  sides 60 

17.  "      embossed,  gilt  edges 75 

18.  "  "        and  clasp 90 

19.  "      gilt  sides  and  edges 90 

20.  "         "       "       "         "     clasps 1  12 

21.  Turkey  morocco,  extra 2  00 

22.  "  "  "     clasp 2  50 

23.  "  "  "    beveled 2  50 

24.  "  "  "  u      clasp 3  00 

25.  "  "  bands  and  ornaments 4  00 

Velvet,  richly  ornamented,  from  $4  to  $12. 

The  Diamond  Manual 

A  beautiful  pocket  Prayer  Book,  containing  all  the  neces- 
sary prayers. 

No.  1.  Cloth,  gilt $0  25 

2.  Embossed  roan,  gilt  edges 45 

3.  Tucks  (pocket-book  form),  gilt  edges 63 

4.  Turkey  morocco 1  00 

6.         "  "      clasps 1  25 

Velvet  and  ornaments,  from  $1.50  to  $6. 

The  Child's  Catholic  Manual. 

Containing  short  abridgment  of  the  Christian  Doctrine, 
Prayers  for  morning  and  evening,  Instructions  and  Pray 


40 

ers  for  Mass,  with  handsome  Illustrations  of  the  Mass, 
Instructions  and  Devotion  for  Confession,  Holy  Commu- 
nion and  Confirmation,  and  a  selection  of  beautiful  and 
suitable  Devotions,  Hymns,  &c,  &c.     32mo. 

PRICE. 

No.  1.  Cloth $0  30 

2.  Eoan,  plain 38 

3.  Cloth,  gilt  center  and  edges 50 

4.  Roan,     «       "         "         " 75 

5.  "         "       "         "         "    and  clasp 90 

6.  "      gilt  sides,  plain  edges 60 

7.  "       "      "      and  edges 88 

8.  "        "       "              "       and  clasps 1  00 

9.  Morocco,  extra 2  00 

10.         "  "     and  clasp 2  50 

The  Purgatorian  Manual; 

•  or,  A  Selection  of  Prayers  and  Devotions,  with  appropri- 
ate reflections,  for  the  use  of  the  members  of  the  Purgato- 
rian Society,  and  adapted  for  general  use.  By  Rev. 
Thomas  S.  Preston.  Approved  by  the  Most  Rev.  John 
McCloskey,  D.  D.,  Archbishop  of  New  York.  18mo 
beautifully  illustrated  with  steel  engravings. 

price. 

Cloth,  plain $1  00 

Roan,      " 1  25 

"        gilt  edges 1  50 

"           "         "     and  sides 2  00 

Turkey  morocco,  extra 3  50 

contents. 

I.  The  Purgatorian  Society  in  the  Diocese  of  New  York ; 

its  history  and  the  conditions  of  membership. 
II.  The  Doctrine  of  Purgatory  stated  and  demonstrated. 
III.  A  Devout  Method  of  hearing  Mass  for  the  benefit  of  the 

Suffering  Souls. 
IY.  The  Office  for  the  Dead. 

V.  A  Collection  of  Prayers  Indulgenced  by  the  Church. 
VI.  Novena  of  St.  Alphonsus,  for  the  nine  days  preceding 
All-Souls1  Day. 


BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY  P.    o'SHEA.  41 

VII.  Octave  of  Father  Faber  for  the  Souls  in  Purgatory. 

VIII.  The  Way  of  the  Cross  by  St.  Alphonsus  M.  Liguori. 

IX.  Reflections  for  such  as  seek  purification  in  this  life. 


CATHOLIC  CATECHISMS. 
Challoner's  Catholic  Christian  Instructed, 

16mo.    Flexible  cloth 45 

Challoner's  Catholic  Christian  Instructed, 

16mo.     Paper 30 

Butler's  Catechism, 

With  the  Scriptural  Catechism.  Per  hundred .  $4  50     0  08 

Butler's  Catechism, 

Detroit  edition 4  50     0  08 

A  Catechism  for  General  Use, 

By  Rev.  J.  McCaffrey,  D.  D.,  President  of  Mt.  St. 
Mary's  College.  Approved  by  the  Most  Rev.  J.  Mc- 
Closkey,  D.  D. ;  Most  Rev.  M.  J.  Spalding,  D.  D. ;  Rt. 
Rev.  J.  F.  Wood,  D.  D.,  and  several  other  Bishops,  for 
use  in  their  Dioceses. 

18rao,  large  type,  good  paper,  per  100 $5  00 

24mo,  "         "         "       "     2  75 

"    abridged 1  75 

APPROBATIONS    OF   DH.    m'cAFFREY's   OATEOniSMS. 

On  the  favorable  report  of  our  Examiners  of  Books,  we  take 
pleasure  in  approving  the  Catechisms  recently  composed  by 
Rev.  Dr.  McCaffrey,  President  of  Mount  St.  Mary's  College, 
the  revised  edition  of  which  is  to  be  soon  issued ;  and  We  per- 
rcit  and  even  recommend  their  use  in  our  Archdiocese. 
Baltimore,  April  12,  1866. 

M.  J.  Spalding, 

Archbishop  of  Baltimore. 


42  BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY  P.    O'SHEA. 

We  approve  the  Catechisms  prepared  by  the  Very  Rev.  Dr 
McCaffrey,  both  the  larger  one  and  the  Abridgment,  and  re- 
commend their  adoption  in  the  various  schools  of  our  diocese. 
John,  Archbishop  of  New  York. 

New  York,  July  16,  1866. 

Cathedral,  Logan  Square. 

Philadelphia,  Jan.  11,  1867. 
We  cheerfully  concur  in  the  recommendation  of  Catechisms 
lately  published  by  Very  Rev.  Dr.  MoCaffeet,  knowing  and 
appreciating  the  care  and  labor  bestowed  on  their  preparation 
by  the  Very  Rev.  author. 

James  F.  Wood, 

Bishop  of  Philadelphia. 

FROM   THE   BALTIMORE    CATHOLIC    MIREOE. 

The  great  desideratum  in  a  Catechism  is  brevity,  simplicity, 
and  a  plainness  of  style  which  enables  the  young  mind  to  take 
in  without  effort  all  that  it  propounds  and  teaches.  Dr.  Mc- 
Caffrey's Catechism,  while  it  fully  states  the  elements  of 
Christian  doctrine,  comes  nearer,  in  our  opinion,  to  what  is 
needed  in  these  particulars,  than  any  thing  of  the  kind  that  has 
yet  been  published.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  any  human 
effort  will  ever  reach  perfection  in  a  work  of  this  kind,  yet  we 
much  doubt  if  any  future  attempt  that  may  be  made  will  ever 
surpass,  if  it  equal,  this  one  of  Dr.  McCaffrey.  It  is  a  plea- 
sure to  know  that  in  our  opinion  of  this  little  catechism  we 
differ  in  nothing  from  many  of  our  Archbishops,  Bishops,  and 
the  body  of  our  venerated  clergy. 

A  Short  Abridgment  of  the  Christian  Doctrine, 

Revised  for  the  use  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the 
United  States.     Per  hundred.. $2  50  $0  05 

Catechism  for  the  Use  of  the  Sick  Poor. 

By  a  Sister  of  Mercy 03 

General  Catechism  of  the  Christian  Doctrine, 

Prepared  by  order  of  the  National  Council. ......         05 

Short  Catechism, 

Price 03 


BOOKS   PUBLISHED  BY  P.   o'SHEA.  43 

School  Books. 

The  following  School  Books  have  been  adopted  for  use  by 
the  Sisters  of  Charter/,  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  Sisters 
of  Mercy,  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools,  <Jbc,  <kc. 
They  are  used,  also,  in  most  of  the  best  conducted  private 
schools  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York. 

I  The  Primary  Spelling-Book. 

An  easy  introduction  to  the  "  Columbian  Spelling- 
Book, "  in  which  the  spelling,  pronunciation,  meaning, 
and  application  of  almost  all  the  irregular  words  in 
the  English  language  are  taught  in  a  manner  adapted 
to  the  comprehension  of  young  learners,  by  means  of 
spelling  and  dictation  exercises.  1  vol.,  12mo,  half 
bound $0  25 

II.  The  Columbian  Spelling-Book. 

A  complete  Manual  of  Orthography,  Orthoepy,  and 
Etymology.  A  new  and  easy  method  of  teaching  the 
spelling,  pronunciation,  meaning,  and  application  of 
almost  all  the  difficult  and  irregular  words  in  the  lan- 
guage, by  means  of  Spelling  and  Dictation  Exer- 
cises.    1  vol.,  large  12mo,  310  pp 45 


The  Primary  Reader. 


By  J.  B.  Tullt.     Illustrated  with  several  beautiful 
wood-cuts.     Half  bound 12-J- 

The  Second  Reader, 

By  J.  B.  Tullt.     18mo,  188  pages.     Half  bound. .         25 

The  Third  Reader. 

By  J.  B.  Tullt.     12mo,   half  bound,  roan,  back 
lettered 63 

The  Fourth  Reader, 

ByJ.B.  Tullt.     12mo,  432  pages 100 


44 


The  Columbian  Orator ; 


Or,  The  Fifth  Book  of  the  Columbian  Series  of 
Readers  and  Spellers,  with  illustrations  and  expla- 
nations of  the  various  attitudes  suitable  to  the 
orator. 

This  book  contains,  besides  an  admirable  selec- 
tion from  the  best  authors,  several  dialogues,  pre- 
pared especially  for  it,  which  will  be  found  to  sup- 
ply a  want  much  felt  hitherto  by  our  schools.  1 
vol.,  12mo 1  50 

TESTIMONIALS. 

FROM   BROTHER     HABAOUC,    DIRECTOR     OF    THE     CHRISTIAN    BRO- 
THERS'   ACADEMY    OF   THE    ASSUMPTION,    UTIOA. 

"I  have  just  received  a  copy  of  the  'Primary  Spelling- 
Book,'  by  Mr.  Tully,  and  lam  delighted  with  it.  It  is  at  once 
the  most  simple,  practical,  and  scientific  English  Spelling-Book 
I  have  ever  seen. 

"Brother  Habactjc." 

from  the  convent  of  mercy,  houston  street,  new  york. 

"  We  like  your  series  of  Readers  very  much,  and  shall  use 
them  hereafter  in  our  school." 

FROM    M. 

"After  a  careful  examination  of  'Tully's  Columbian  Spell- 
ing Book,'  I  adopted  it  in  the  higher  classes  of  this  school. 
The  success  which  has  attended  its  use  has  verified  my  expect- 
ations of  it,  and  convinced  me  that  it  is  not  only  a  book  of 
exceeding  merit,  but  that  it  is  decidedly  the  lest  of  its  Mnd  of 
any  that  has  ever  come  under  my  observation.  I  cordially 
recommend  it  to  general  patronage,  in  the  conviction  that, 
wherever  it  may  be  adopted,  its  use  will  confirm  the  opinion 
I  have  expressed  in  regard  to  its  superior  excellence. 

"M.  J.  O'Donnell,  Ward  School  No.  5." 

FROM   THE   NEW    YORK    EVENING   POST. 

"We  are  pleased  to  see  that  the  text-book  ('Columbian 
Spelling  Book'),  to  which  we  invite  our  readers'  attention, 
ascribes  great  importance  to  the  practice  of  dictation.  Be- 
sides adequate  provisions  for  oral  recitation,  it  furnishes 
abundant  exercises  especially  arranged  for  writing.  The  work 
is  thoroughly  prepared  and  issued  in  a  convenient  and  durable 
form." 


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Carpenter's  Scholars'  Spelling  Assistant. 

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The  Practical  Dictation  Spelling  Book, 

In  which  the  spelling,  pronunciation,  meaning  and 
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English  language  are  taught  in  a  manner  adapted 
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This  book  is  admirable  in  plan  and  execution,  and 
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Price's  Practical  Arithmetic. 

12mo,  half  bound 65 


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